Baggage Claim
by Sparkly Jul
Summary: Bella and the girls are off to the Bahamas for two weeks of sun, sand and cocktails. One small mix up with her baggage... and who knows who she might meet!
1. Chapter 1 Packing

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

This is my first attempt at this writing lark – so please leave me reviews, and be honest (by honest I mean gentle!) I like my chapters short and sweet. Oh, and dirty… later on.

Big love to my fic-bitch, I-heart-Fifty, without whom Emmett's name would be spelled incorrectly and my autocorrect would rule the world.

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**BELLA**

There was snow on the ground and I couldn't wait to get up in the air. I was so over the winter with the nasty cold mornings and bone-chilling winds. I practically squealed with excitement at what the next two weeks could possibly hold. I looked towards my suitcase that lay on the bed, empty and waiting for things to be put in it at the last minute. I had a pile of clothes on my bed that I had yet to sort through to see if they made the cut. It felt strange to be packing bikinis, shorts and sleeveless tops since I was currently wearing thermal underwear, jeans, a hoodie and my winter coat. Since we were about to leave for two weeks, we had decided not to turn the heating on that morning, and it was a choice I was beginning to regret.

"Hum yump philm deady?" asked a pint sized jacket-bound figure that looked kinda like Alice. I glanced up and all I could see was the tip of her bright red nose peeking out from under the fur-lined hood of her jacket. I stifled a laugh, she looked ridiculous, very cute but ridiculous.

"What did you say, Al?"

She pulled the pair of heavy knitted mittens off that Esme had given us all for christmas, flipped back her hood to reveal her shaggy pixie haircut and asked again.

"Are you almost ready? Because the taxi will be here in 20 minutes and we can't keep it waiting. I don't know why you leave packing till the last minute..." her voice trailed off as she started to notice what I was throwing in my case, from the haphazard pile on the bed.

"Isabella Marie Swan, what the hell are you putting in there? I don't think so! Go and see what Rose is doing while I try and salvage the mess that is your suitcase. Is this really the only bag you have?" She asked pointing to my old, worn, but still perfectly usable small black wheeled suitcase.

"Look, do you want control over what goes in there or not?" I asked, hands on my hips. She looked sheepishly at me. Everyone who knew Alice knew that she had tendencies towards being a bit of a control freak, especially concerning me. I was her pet project – she was going to transform me if it killed her. I had resisted so far but she was hoping it was only a matter of time.

"Well, yes of course I want control" she started as I began to walk out the door.

"Then don't knock the bag!" I threw back over my shoulder as I disappeared out of my room and down the hall to Rose's room.

I walked into Rose's room and threw myself - not at all gracefully - onto the bed where she was putting the last few tissue wrapped items into her gorgeous Louis Vuitton luggage and zipping it up. Her luggage looked my like battered suitcase's sophisticated older sister.

"Did the demonic pixie hijack your packing again?" she asked wryly. We both knew that when Alice was in her excitable mood it was just easier to let her organize everything until she either ran out of jobs to do, or ran out of steam.

I took another look at Rose and realized that even though she was as bundled up as the rest of us, she somehow managed to look glamorous. You would think that after being friends with her for so long I would be used those perfect looks. Her hair was thick and blonde and reached almost all the way down her back. She was taller than both Alice and I, had a killer body and boobs that I was mildly jealous of. If she wasn't such a lovely person and one of my best friends I would have hated her on sight.

Rosalie, Alice and I have been friends since the summer we all turned eight. I was visiting my grandparents, just like I did every summer, while Mom and Dad jetted off to whichever childfree destination they had chosen that year. I usually loathed going to visit my grandparents, not because they were mean or anything - I was just always so lonely. That year when I arrived Grandma told me that they had new neighbours who had a daughter about my age. I was so excited! That girl was Alice. She introduced me to her best friend Rose who lived three doors down and was in the same class as Alice at school. We bonded instantly as only girls with matching Barbie dolls can - and the rest is history, we have been inseparable every summer since.

It was part planning and part fluke that we all got accepted into the same university and ended up in the same dorm building. Since we were about 15 we had been talking about going to the same school. Alice was going to major in fashion and textiles so she could be a clothing designer and Rose wanted to be a lawyer. I was going to be a journalist so we researched and discovered which schools offered all three then chose the location we liked the best. That place was ...

Okay, we did get a bit of help from Alice's mum when it came to the housing allocation. Esme was an interior designer and before she met Alice's Dad had lived in ... where it turns out she had decorated the house of one of the members on the campus housing committee. A few favours were pulled and we spend out first year in the best dorm building in rooms next door to each other.

In our second year, the three of us moved off campus to this fantastic house that belongs to Rosalie's godparents, where we were currently freezing our butts off for very minimal rent. It was usually a really warm and cosy place but with the heat shut off in preparation for our holiday we were slumming it. But even in the freezing cold and with Alice in charge of what was going into my battered suitcase I could not get the stupid grin off my face. Life was good, and was about to get so much better as a car horn sounded from outside.

I sprang up from Rose's bed as Alice gave an excited shriek from the other room.

"Bella!" she yelled excitedly, "You better get your good for nothing ass in here and sit on this case so I can zip it shut, or we are going to miss our flight."

I ran down the hall to my room and saw tornado Alice had hit, drawers were haphazardly thrown opened and there were a load of suspiciously empty hangers in my closet. She followed my gaze and looked at me with an embarrassed look on her face.

"I know, I'm sorry about the mess" she whispered. "I will clean it up when we get home, I promise." I took pity on her as I knew leaving the mess behind would bother her, being the organised neat freak that she was.

"Don't worry about it, Pixie Girl" I said, looking towards my suitcase that she had overflowing with a lot of things that I didn't recognise.

"Alice!" I growled in warning as I headed over to check what she had squeezed in there. A small tousle occurred as she realised I wanted to look, and I realised that she was not going to let me.

"No peeking 'til we get there, Bella", she trilled as she slapped my hand out of the way one last time, "It will ruin the surprise" she continued with a mischievous look on her face. She glanced around the room with a pained look on her face but was distracted as the horn from the taxi beeped impatiently again.

I threw my butt onto the lid of the case as Alice expertly zipped it up.

"All done" she smiled sweetly, "now let's go. Two weeks of sun, sand and hopefully shagging…" she finished with a wink. We were off.

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**EDWARD**

"Do you think this is enough stuff?" I glanced towards where Emmett was pointing at his bag and saw four sealed boxes of condoms, a few pairs of boxers, t-shirts and some board shorts. The bag was still only half full. I knew the guy was a big hit with the ladies, but four boxes?

"Dude, we're going for two weeks" I said, in disbelief. Thinking he would probably need and few more clothes.

"That's true" Emmett muttered as he threw in yet another box of condoms and an extra t-shirt.

"Not sure if that's quite what he meant, man." Jasper put in from his spot on the couch, where he was chuckling as he strummed his guitar, which was almost a permanent extension of his hands.

Getting girls had never been a problem for Emmett in the time we'd been friends, and I was sure that this holiday was going to be no different. It was the first day of university and I had just said goodbye to my parents in the carpark, they had wanted to come up but Mom had a way of getting a bit emotional. Carlisle had just finished giving me the "don't be a slut" talk and I was dreading the walk up the stairs to the fourth floor where I would be living that year. I was bending down to pick up my stuff as a massive shadow fell over me.

"Where you heading, bro? Need a hand?" I straightened up and saw two guys standing there, one my height and the other a good head taller.

I took one look at the bigger guy who had introduced himself as Emmett and thought their help would save me a few trips back and forth. On the walk up the stairs, I discovered that Emmett was studying something sport-related and was here on an athletics scholarship, hardly surprising given his sheer size. I was tall but he was at least a head taller, and was about twice my size and pure muscle in the way only serous athletes are. He also had the close cropped hair of a jock but it looked like it was still trying to curl and rebel.

Jasper, the smaller of the two, had a guitar slung over one shoulder. He was starting a music degree, and, as I would later learn, always had some sort of instrument with him. Jazz's favourite was the guitar but if space was tight, a harmonica would do. He looked a little earthy with his hemp shirt loose pants and small round wooden beads around his neck. It surprised me that two guys who looked so different would have been friends.

Jazz and Em also lived on the top floor of the dorm and had known each a few days. After we staggered to the top floor carrying my stuff I knew these guys would have my back. While we were all so different and had different groups of friends due to classes, sports teams and bands we always seemed to come back to each other. And our friendship stayed strong throughout our days at college.

Three years on, we shared an apartment off campus, and probably would continue to after we graduated, providing we all got jobs locally. Our apartment was above a block of shops, handy when you want a takeaway to help your hangover, but not so great when the bakery staff arrive at 5am to start work. I could almost predict when they would arrive and had long forgone the need for an alarm clock, we all had.

The apartment was a little on the small side but it was clean and we liked it. I know it sounds strange for three guys to share a clean place but Em always told us the ladies don't feel comfortable in a mess, and with his track record we believed whatever he said. Jazz and I did alright ourselves on the girl front, but Em topped us both with sheer numbers.

My thoughts wandered to my last girlfriend while I haphazardly threw things into my case. Tanya and I had been together for 2 months and while the sex had been great, I couldn't stand how she was all about partying. I liked to party as much as any other student but I also knew that if I wanted to pass and become a doctor like I wanted to I needed to make time to study as well. We had eventually broken up when I kept refusing to go out with her in the build up to finals.

The exams we important to me for two reasons, I really wanted to do well and become a doctor but I also needed to find the time to help Emmett. He wasn't much of an academic and would lose his scholarship if he didn't pass. So Tanya gave me an ultimatum - it was either her or Emmett. For me it's always been bros before hoes so tutoring Emmett had won, and Tanya had been kicked to the kerb. The final exams had come and gone and thanks to a wing and prayer plus a few all-nighters Em had passed and I was single and ready to get laid. With the hope of some gorgeous girls and a possible holiday shag on my mind I happily went back to packing. A horn sounded from downstairs and Jasper stopped strumming his guitar and looked out the window as the horn sounded again impatiently.

"Guys, the cab is here so finish packing your shit and get downstairs." He stood up and placed his guitar in the special super-padded case he has specially for travelling and slung it over his shoulder.

He looked at both of us, "You guys got everything? Em, got your boxers and your toothbrush?" We all chuckled at remembering our last trip, Emmett had forgotten both and being too stingy to waste drinking money on new ones had spend the week commando and stealing our toothbrushes. It was an experience we didn't want repeated.

"Sure have brother, but has Edward got his precious hairbrush and girly styling products?" He ribbed.

"You know I never go anywhere without them" I quipped back, without missing a beat. I had always had unruly hair, whether it was closely cropped or longer it was still unmanageable and it was the most god awful colour, I hated it. It's unruliness probably wasn't helped by the fact that I was constantly running my fingers through it.

I zipped up my case, double checking for my brush and products, and headed towards the door. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Emmett throw another box of condoms into his already well-stocked bag - making six in total - zipped it up, and followed me out the door to the waiting taxi.

Once we were settled into the cab Emmett turned from the front seat and looked at us in mock seriousness. "So, gentlemen, are you ready for the best two weeks of our lives?" We nodded enthusiastically, unable to keep the excitement in any longer now the time had finally arrived.

"Well then, let's bring on the beach, the beer and the beautiful babes."

I could not agree with him more.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Remember, reviews = love :)


	2. Chapter 2 Drinking

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

This is my first attempt at this writing lark – so please leave me reviews, and be honest (by honest I mean gentle!) I like my chapters short and sweet. Oh, and dirty… later on.

Thanks for all the alert/review action… glad you're all keen to see what happens next.

Big love to my fic-bitch, I-heart-Fifty, without whom this story would lack punctuation.

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**BELLA**

Approximately 12 hours and two stopovers later we had arrived in the sunny Bahamas. Even though we were all a little jetlagged from the time change I actually felt pretty good. I think the lovely warmth of the sun radiating through to my bones as we sat in the lobby waiting for Alice was helping considerably.

"The lovely lady behind the desk said we can leave our bags there while we wait until our room is ready" Alice trilled as she skipped over to us. Under Alice's supervision, we had swapped our winter clothes for more climate-appropriate bikinis, sarongs and sandals on our final stopover.

"What are we waiting for, girls? Let's hit the bar!" she squeaked and dragged Rose and I out to a beautiful patio with tables covered in huge umbrellas and a breathtaking view of the crystal clear water and golden sand. A sexy waiter glided over to us and without consultation Rose ordered us each a drink. I opened my mouth to protest but then on second thoughts, a drink in the sun would be fantastic. She then further stunned us by announcing that we were working our way through the entire cocktail list.

"Rose, there are 42 cocktails on this list!" I exclaimed, holding the rather sizeable bar menu up.

"Well, we're here for 14 days - so that's only three per day, Bella, plus a repeat performance of our favourites. Let your hair down and live a little, we're on holiday!"

I had to reluctantly agree with her. The last few weeks had been stressful with finals and the shitty weather had really been getting us all down. Rose was right, it was time to live a little.

"Cheers to that!" Alice said, as the waiter walked towards us holding a tray with three frosty highball glasses filled to the brim with an orange liquid complete with fruit garnishes and umbrellas.

"Three Alabama Slammers, ladies. Enjoy!" he purred. "If there's anything else I can get you, please don't hesitate to ask." He set the drinks down with a flourish and a wink and walked away, while we all turned to follow his tight ass.

"Gorgeous!" breathed Alice, cheeks reddening.

"Absolutely…" Rosalie and I agree, breathlessly. Since my last boyfriend James had left after deciding I was not 'fun' enough, I had been in a bit of a sexual dry spell and I was looking forward to ending that drought at least once over the next 14 days. I watched that fine ass disappear back behind the bar and wondered what the hotel's policy was on guests fraternising with the staff.

Three Alabama Slammers, Air Force Ones, Banana Daiquiris and about an hour of sexy waiter ogling later, we staggered up to our room led by a very attractive bellboy pushing a trolley laden with our luggage. I was very much admiring the view of his sculpted back and shoulders as he pushed the trolley. I silently complemented the hotel on their choice of high calibre staff; it was full to bursting with tasty eye candy, yum.

"Is it just me, or are all the men who work here gorgeous?" whispered a slightly tipsy Rosalie as we all crowded into the elevator with the luggage trolley. I was glad that it wasn't only sex starved little me who had noticed and was openly ogling.

"Shh, Rose" Alice whispered back, "this elevator is really small and he can probably hear you! Y'know how you get drunk and think you're being quiet, when actually you're talking at full volume?"

We all burst out laughing as we realized that she has done exactly the same thing.

The bellboy cleared his throat as the elevator arrived at our floor and he directed us to our suite. Yes, a suite. We had been so lucky with this holiday, Alice (the competition queen) had won this incredible, all expenses paid holiday through a competition on the radio, and had graciously invited us along.

It was about two weeks before finals and we were stressed, freezing and well and truly ready for exams and winter to be over. I was trying to stay focused on what I was doing when Alice tore into my room clutching the phone to her chest and whooping loudly. Turns out that she had been involved in a rather long and drawn out competition about songs from the last decade, and had beaten out two others with her knowledge to win a trip of lifetime. The choices were between tramping in the Himalayas, a houseboat on the Amazon or two weeks in a luxury resort in the Bahamas.

"Have I told you today that you're my best friend, and I love you Pixie Girl?" I slurred as I walked up beside her and slung my arm around her shoulders. I was a bit unsteady on my feet. I wanted to blame the jetlag but I knew it was probably more the three cocktails I had consumed on an almost empty stomach.

"Ooh, tipsy Bella is making an appearance! I love tipsy Bella!" Rose chimed in, and walked up to my other side, slinging her arm around my waist. I noticed she was a bit unsteady on her feet also, however that may have had more to do with her skyscraper heels.

"Right back at you, babe" I said as the bellboy cleared his throat again. He opened the door to the suite and motioned for us to follow inside.

It was gorgeous, huge, panoramic windows with billowing white curtains, polished wooden floors, and cream leather couches just waiting to be lounged on. It was so bright, airy and chic and I instantly fell in love with the simple lines and gorgeous colour palate. It was simply breathtaking. All three of us stood there with mouths agape, staring around in wonder while screaming like six year olds on the inside. I could scarcely believe that we were going to stay here, I blinked a few times to see if it was just the cocktails and lack of sleep producing this mirage but when I focused again it was still there, and still perfect. It was like someone had assessed our personalities and preferences and designed this room just for us.

Rosalie was the first to recover. "It's fantastic, thanks" she said coolly, and the bellboy proceeded to show her how everything worked while Alice and I stood, glued to the spot, mouths still wide open with wonder and amazement.

The sex-on-legs bellboy had obviously finished his tour, because Rose was handing him a generous tip and closing the door behind him. We all looked at each other, grabbed hands and skipped to the closest bedroom where we leapt onto the bed and jumped up and down with glee, all talking in loud excited voices, one on top of the other, about how fantastic this was. We all stopped talking abruptly when we realised what was going on and started laughing and squealing again.

"How much do you love me now girls? How much do you love me now?", Alice screamed over and over as we jumped up and down.

###

**EDWARD**

"Nice one for scoring those tickets from Carlisle, Edward" Emmett boomed as he patted me on the back. "And cheers to you both for dragging my sorry ass through finals".

"I reckon those beers he had on the plane are taking effect" Jasper whispered to me. "But I can totally see what Em is getting at, this place is great". We had just walked into the hotel lobby after a long and shitty flight squashed in those crappy airline seats and I was ready for a swim and a nap. My mood lifted, however, after a quick glance around. It was only now I was realising how proud Dad must be of me to spring for a holiday of this calibre. This place was nice, real nice.

A look outside showed a patio bar complete with gorgeous girls, leading out to clear white beaches and blue ocean as far as the eye could see. Though it had been really hard at the time keeping Emmett from the bar during term to help him study, knowing that if we all passed, Dad would pay for the accommodation on this trip had made it totally worth it.

"Let's see if our room is ready guys, I could totally do with a swim right now" I said.

"Or, we could hit the bar" Emmett interjected, looking wistfully out the bar and eyeing up a table of three hot girls.

I looked at Jazz, "why don't we swim first, then chat up the girls" he said. "They have a tray of drinks coming, and drunk chicks are easier to score than sober ones.." he trailed off. That was the decider for Emmett, not that he every really needed the help.

Jasper smooth-talked the babe behind the reception desk into letting us stash our bags there 'til our room was ready, then we changed out of our stifling travelling clothes and hit the beach.

The sand was hot beneath our feet when we arrived. We glanced at each other and all had the same thought. "Race you to the water" Jazz announced. I guess it helped that the girl who was handing out the towels was a babe and a bit of healthy competition never hurts. Emmett may be big, but I'm fast and Jazz plays dirty - so we were pretty evenly tied.

The water was warm yet refreshing and exactly what I had needed to get me out of my travelling funk. I had such long legs, flying anywhere was always such a cramped affair and I was glad when the long flight was over.

About 40 minutes later we headed back up the front desk to formally check in and collect our bags. As I was filling out the necessary forms, the manger walked over. "Mr Cullen?" "Yes", I replied warily. When people call a guy my age mister, something is usually wrong.

"A note from your father" he gestured as he handed over an envelope. I opened it warily and read the fax that was inside.

_Boys,_

_I know it was hard keeping Em from the bars and helping him study as well as keeping on top of your own workloads. You all passed, and made Mr McCarty, Mr Whitlock and I very proud. Enjoy these last weeks of fun before you have to settle into the real world._

_Welcome to adulthood guys, enjoy the suite._

_Dad_

I was in a little bit of shock as I wordlessly handed the letter over to Jasper who quickly read it out loud for Emmett's benefit.

"Fucking awesome!" "Nice one Carlisle!" Emmett and Jasper whooped in relative quiet of the lobby, bringing attention our way.

"If you follow me, I will show you to your suite," a bellboy interrupted, obviously trying to move the noise out of the lobby. "Come on guys" I called over my shoulder as we began to walk towards the elevators.

Still a little stunned, we followed our luggage into the elevator and up to the top floor. We strutted along behind the bellboy like we did this kind of thing every day.

"Suite 203, gentlemen" the bellboy introduced as he opened the door.

We were greeted by dark wood floors, brown leather couches and the biggest fucking TV I had ever seen. There were windows running the length of the room leading out onto a balcony with view that was every bit as awesome as the one downstairs. Emmett flopped down into one of the recliners.

"I've died and gone to heaven" he sighed. Had to agree with him, this was fucking amazing.

The bellboy cleared his throat "If you will just follow me, I will show you how all the amenities work". 10 minutes later we had gone through all the gadgets in the room and how they worked, with Em interrupting to ask questions every few seconds. I said my thanks to the bellboy and gave him a big tip to make up for Emmett's over excitement and shut the door.

I took another good look around the suite and chose the biggest room with a jacuzzi style tub in the adjoining bathroom, leaving Jazz and Em to fight it out for the remaining two rooms.

"Hey guys," I yelled from my new room "let's shower then head downstairs for dinner then drinks and see where the night takes us."

"Hopefully to some hot chick's bed" Emmett yelled back. Joking aside, I was hoping he was right, I could definitely do with a shag.

"Sounds good" Jasper said, and we were all thinking along the same lines. It had been a quiet time girls-wise in the apartment for the last little while. For me there had been no one since Tanya had left. Emmett was not much of a dating man, preferring to see each girl only a handful of times before it got too serious. Jazz had not been with anyone for over a year after his breakup with Charlotte when he found her in bed with one of this former band mates.

I was still thinking about our lack of prowess in the last little while as I jumped into the world's largest power shower (thank you, Carlisle) and turned all the jets on full. It was like a fully body massage, only better and pushed all other thoughts from my mind.

As I was drying off I went to the bed and unzipped the suitcase that the bellboy had unloaded there. I was just about to unzip the zip and flip the top open and was standing there with the towel slug around my hips when Em came bouncing in.

"You not ready yet, bro?" He asked. I didn't bother answering as the fact that I was naked apart from the towel should have been answer enough. He looked at me questioningly. "What's taking you so long, I'm starving" he whined.

"Give me two minutes to change and do my hair, and we can go" I said in a tone like I was talking to a toddler.

He snickered, "It will take you more than two minutes to do your hair, I'll just go and watch that mammoth TV while I wait then".

I went back to my case, finished unzipping it and threw the top open. "What the fuck?"

"What the fuck have you got in there?" Emmett asked incredulously.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Remember, reviews = chapter 3, early next week :)


	3. Chapter 3 Reclaiming

**UPDATE: Fic Bitch here. It seems I can't leave her alone for two minutes. Not only were there grammatical errors (makes my blood Boil!) but she also managed to post a previous draft of Chapter 3. So, apologies, but you might wanna read this again as there's a few extra juicy tid-bits that weren't here last week. Rest assured, I'll be supervising more closely in future :)**

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

A little shout out to the Ladies of the Twitarded Castle who regularly make me laugh out loud with their foul mouths and hilarious antics. I have 'borrowed' a phrase from them in this chapter. Hope you don't mind girls! I'm screwed if you do cause it comes back into play a little later...

Thanks to everyone who had read the first two chapters. Big kisses MWAH MWAH to those who added me to their alerts, favourites lists and left me reviews. Reviews are like a drug to me... So hook a sister up.

Big love to my Fic-Bitch, I-heart-Fifty, without whom there would be no speech marks in this story and too many exclamation points. Loves you long time. You can also follow her on Twitter(I_heart_Fifty), please do cause she pimps my story big time and she is fucking hilarious! I don't twitter cause I'm a bit computer illiterate, also posting this chapter all by myself cause Fic-Bitch had a laptop meltdown! **[she grovels well, but she needs me, really.]**

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**BELLA**

Once we had all calmed down a bit, finished jumping on the bed, and decided on who was going to sleep where, we all joyfully went to our own bathrooms to shower and get ready.

"We should totally get two more bathrooms at home" Alice screeched from her en suite. I winced slightly as her high voice echoed off the walls of the bathroom.

"This is great, I can do my makeup in peace without you two yelling at me to hurry up" Rose yelled back.

I was just thankful that I wasn't going to have to wade through their piles of stuff to find my meagre beauty products. They both had tubes, bottles and tubs full of beauty paraphernalia at home and our communal bathroom was overflowing with it. It was then I remembered that I had let Alice pack my stuff. I groaned a little at the thought of what she might have put in. With my towel wrapped tightly around me, I unzipped my case, flipped open the top and prepared myself to be surprised. What greeted me was very surprising indeed.

"Alice!" I screeched, "What the hell did you pack in my suitcase?" she and Rose came running at the sound of panic and urgency in my voice.

"Just a few sexy things for you to wear, I had to dig right to the back of your stuff to find them but I remembered what Rose and I made you buy after you broke up with James". She trilled, excitedly. "We also may have been buying you a few necessary things over the last couple of weeks to supplement your meagre wardrobe…" she trailed off.

"Well, Alice, unless you think boxer briefs, t-shirts and a shaving kit are sexy and necessary, I'm pretty sure I have the wrong suitcase. Look for yourselves!" I gestured to the suitcase that had obviously masculine clothes and toiletries spilling out of it.

We all stood there for a minute before Rose took charge. "Bells, did you pick up the right case at the airport?" "Yes Rose" I said meekly. "I checked the label and it definitely had my name on it."

"Well, then" she said all business-like. "The switch must have happened while we had our bags stored at the front desk. "How many small shabby black suitcases can they have had on hold here today? Let's just ring and ask shall we?" she said, picking up the phone.

"Hello, this is Rosalie Hale in Suite 302. We seem to have had a small mix up..."

As Rose explained the situation to the front desk, Alice and I did a bit of snooping. I gingerly picked through the neat clean piles of clothes, trying not to disturb things too much. I noted that the clothes were good quality and seemed to belong to either a young guy or an old guy trying to be young. Alice had no such qualms as she rifled though looking at all the clothes and unzipping the bag full of toiletries. After a few minutes of silent perusing she spoke.

"Well, Bella, your mystery man is tall, bronze haired, and needs glasses for reading. Plus, he has the same taste in books as you – oh, and smells like a dream" she said matter of factly. She paused, looking at me with a mischievous look in her eye "also, he is looking to have sex with at least 24 women - or one woman 24 times, or a few women a couple of times..." she drifted off.

"How do you know all of that from a suitcase?" I asked her in disbelief, had we been looking in the same case? Cos after all that time the only thing I knew was that this guy was neat, clean and liked the colours blue and green. "Easy!" she explained. "His jeans are longer than average in the leg, there is bronze hair in his brush, and his glasses are here next to a copy of that spy thriller you have been reading. Plus he has a bumper box of 24 condoms, she held them up as evidence. Oh, and his aftershave smells yummy" she added as an afterthought holding the bottle out to me to sniff.

I stared at her, my mouth slightly open. This girl was good. I had noticed the tasty smell coming from the case and after leaning in closer to sniff the offered bottle I realised that once again Alice was right. This guy did smell yummy, very yummy.

"Thank you so much" Rose murmured and hung up the phone. She turned to us, "They had multiple bags on hold behind the front desk today, all of which have now been checked in. The very unhelpful afternoon desk bimbo won't call the other rooms to check, but seems to think that the other party will come forward as soon as they realise the mistake".

"I hope they are right" I whined, "I can't go around all holiday wearing your clothes and I can't afford to buy others". I glanced at my two friends, Rose a head taller and Alice a head smaller and sighed dramatically. We all laughed. "You could always wear that stuff", Alice motioned to the open suitcase with a nod of her head, "maybe wear a shirt as a dress with the waist clinched in with one of the belts?" We all laughed again as even Rose would be struggling to fit those clothes.

"Look on the bright side, Bells" Alice said, "at least you have one set of underwear and some sandals, Worst case scenario, if you don't get your case back, you can rinse them out each night." I shuddered at the thought of not getting my stuff back. She continued, "also, with my wicked seamstress skills I can alter a few of our clothes and those guy clothes to make a fairly serviceable wardrobe." "Thanks babe, you're the best" I said giving her a tight hug.

Twenty minutes later, after multiple outfit rejections I was finally dressed. After much arguing I had settled for a top of Rose's that was very low cut as I didn't have enough boobs to fill it, and a skirt of Alice's that was very short considering I was a fair bit taller than her. I was looking in the mirror trying to tug a few more inches out of the skirt as the phone rang. Rose answered it, had a brief conversation then hung up.

"Grab the Bronze God's suitcase Bells, we're heading to reception. They think they have found your case and we're off to do a swap." Rose stated.

"What did you call him?" I asked, laughing. "The Bronze God" Alice interjected. "His hair is bronze and he smells heavenly, the Bronze God. Let's hope his face and personality matches - you could do with a holiday shag" she laughed.

We arrived down in the lobby to be told by the desk bimbo that my bag had yet to arrive. "Would you like to leave the case here? Make yourselves comfortable out at the bar and I'll bring your case over when it arrives." She asked us in all her bleached-hair, big-boobed glory.

"No, thank you" Alice answered sweetly. "We would like to exchange the cases in person to avoid further mix ups". I started to object before Rosalie gave me a swift kick to the shins. I wasn't really sure what it was for, but judging by the death stare that accompanied the kick I decided to keep my mouth shut.

"We'll be at the bar" Alice replied in the same saccharine sweet voice, as she spun on her heel and skipped out the doors to the patio bar.

"Well, at least we can knock another few cocktails off our list while we wait!" Rose laughed.

"Why did you do that?" I hissed as we walked towards the same table we had sat at earlier. They gave each other a look and rolled their eyes.

"So we could see the Bronze God in the flesh, of course!" Alice trilled.

"Oh…" I replied dumbly as we took our seats. Sometimes I was definitely not the brightest crayon in the box. I relaxed back into the comfortable chair and took in the surroundings again. Not much had changed since we had been here a few hours earlier. Some large torches were lit around the perimeter of the bar to keep away the insects and create some ambience, throwing interesting shadows on the large flagstones that covered the patio. I shook my head, I think I was still a little tipsy from the earlier cocktails.

"Christ on a cracker, that boy is hot!" Alice whispered as our water strutted saucily towards us. "So, where are we up to, ladies? Did you finish off with the daiquiri or the cosmo?" He enquired with a smile.

"How did you know?" I stammered, shocked for two reasons, one that he knew what we were drinking and secondly the absolute perfection of this waiter's face and body. "We make it our business to know what the three hottest ladies at the hotel are up to at all times" he replied with a wink.

"We finished with the banana daiquiri last time so cosmopolitans all round, I think" said Rose after glancing at the bar menu. The waiter strutted away to get our drinks.

"Buddha on a biscuit" she breathed, looking at his ass.

"Good one" I said, giving her a fist bump and she giggled. In our first year of college one of the girls on our floor had this abundance of sayings that were so strange and hilarious we couldn't help but adopt them. Over the years we had added to them and would always try and bring them out whenever possible.

"Isn't it strange how less than two hours ago we were a little drunk, but after the suitcase situation", she raised her fingers to do quotation marks in the air, "I feel completely sober" Alice chirped. I wished that I could say the same, my head was spinning slightly, but I had always been a lightweight.

"I guess that realising a stranger…" I started, "Bronze God" Alice and Rose interrupted simultaneously - I glowered at them before continuing - "…has your Alice-packed luggage filled with God knows what tends to sober you up a little!" I said tersely. I could only imagine what Alice had packed into that suitcase, and to be honest I was a little scared.

"Trust me, Bella you won't be disappointed when you finally get to open that case" she giggled. "I think if the Bronze God got to take a good look inside he will at least ask you to join him for a drink."

"Mary Alice Brandon!" I shrieked. "What did you put in there?" My mind reeled, thinking through what was in the closet and drawers and what she could have possible put in there. Most of my clothes were pretty generic, apart from the things Renee would send me each Christmas and birthday and even some of those Alice didn't even like. Renee had pretty eclectic taste.

She shot Rosalie a knowing look, like the two of them had been in on this from the beginning. I could feel the panic rising up in my chest.

"Well, it was almost all stuff I found in your closet, plus a few extra things Rose and I got for you last week as a holiday surprise".

"Like what?" I asked tetchily, trying to keep my voice low and under control.

"All the nice clothes that we know you only buy when you shop with us because it gets us off your back" she blurted out.

"And what else?" I asked, through clenched teeth.

"All the nice lingerie that I know Renee sends you, and you keep at the back of your drawer with the tags on still." She had me there, Renee did have good taste in underwear, it's just that most of it was not really my style. The bras were all push-up style and made me feel like I had whorehouse cleavage; you know, your boobs pushed right up to under your chin? I turned to glare back at  
Alice.

"Anything else?" I threatened, cheeks blazing.

"Just the vibrator, lubricant and condoms that you got at Bree's bachelorette sex toy party" she trailed off, barely above a whisper . I could tell from the look on her face that she realised now that I was really angry, and upset. My hands were starting to shake and I blinked a few times to keep the tears that were welling in my eyes from spilling down my cheeks. I took three deep breaths to try and calm myself, I opened my mouth to speak.

We were interrupted by the waiter placing three pink filled martini glasses on the table and a voice like velvet saying "I think you have something that belongs to me".

We all turned and looked at who I can only assume was the guy we had nicknamed the Bronze God - and boy, was that description spot on. All the anger and frustration that I had felt at Alice moments ago disappeared as I looked up that the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen.

Moses on a muffin, this boy made the waiter look like he had fallen from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. He was taller than average and nicely muscled from what I could see under the massive shirt he was wearing. He had bronze hair that looked like he spent his life running his fingers through it and a panty-melting smirk.

Fuck.

Me.

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair while the sexual tension zinged between us like electricity. His emerald green eyes seemed to burn straight through me while he waited for an answer.

Rose, as always was the first to recover. "You must be the guy who swiped Bella's panties" she said with a giggle.

###

**EDWARD**

Emmett stood in the middle of my room; eyebrows raised as we stared in disbelief at the contents of the suitcase that looked like mine, but was definitely not mine. I bent down and picked up an item off the top and on closer inspection realised I held in my hand a small scrap of something lacy and silky.

"Dude, what the fuck have you got in your hand? Earth to Edward!" he yelled as I stood there stupidly with my mouth open. I was staring at the open case and blinking and hoping that when I opened my eyes again I would see my own stuff there instead.

"What's Em yelling about now?" Jasper drawled as he walked into my room. I turned to look at him, the scrap of lace still in my hand.

"Edward has a suitcase full of hot chick panties and stuff" he laughed, pointing to the case full of obviously feminine attire.

On closer inspection, we discovered that the suitcase was filled to bursting not only with silky and lacy lingerie but string bikinis, short skirts and low cut tops. Most of which were sparkly, see through, uber-feminine or all three.

"That's some hot babe this stuff belongs to, but she looks pretty high maintenance if you ask me. Look at all that makeup and lotions and shit!" Jasper's voice trailed off as we looked at the mammoth bag of foreign looking female beauty paraphernalia.

Emmett snatched the bag and stared to rifle through, "lip gloss, lipstick, lip stain, lip plumper, lip liner, lip balm, lip treatments..." He read out loud off the labels. "I guess all this shit is what makes kissing them so fantastic, huh guys?" Without pausing for breath he let out a low whistle.

"Looky looky at what we have here!" he sang, holding up a strip of about a dozen condoms. "Looks like she is my kind of girl" he said raising his eyebrows suggestively. At that comment a wave of jealousy hit me, I had never met, let alone seen this girl and I was getting myself worked up over Emmett wanting to get into her pants. Fuck. I needed to get laid.

"No, Emmett" I said trying to snap out of my pseudo jealous funk. "Your kind of girl would have three dozen condoms. But I guess you have more than enough for the both of you" I laughed.

"Well I guess I do, including the bumper 24 box I put into your bag before we checked in" he laughed while simultaneously giving Jasper a fist bump.

"You think that whoever this case belongs to has mine?" I asked, while I mentally tried to catalogue all that I had packed that morning. Much to my relief, apart from Em's parting gift of the condoms everything was pretty generic.

"Let's call the front desk and see if Sexy Mouth has handed in your suitcase yet" Jasper suggested as he started towards the phone.

"What did you just call her?" I asked. "Sexy Mouth" he repeated. "'Cause anyone who has all that lip plumping, lining balm shit must have one hell of a fucking gorgeous mouth I reckon" he picked up the phone. "Yeah, this is Jasper Whitlock in Suite 203. We seem to have a little problem..."

I was pulled away from Jasper's conversation by Emmett's stunned whisper. "Oh. My. Fucking. God. I think I've died and gone to heaven. Look at this, Ed!" he half-breathed.

I looked down and saw that he was holding a box and a tube in his large hand. "What is it, bro?" I asked, moving closer to get a better look at whatever had semi stunned him.

"It's a vibrator and a tube of lubricant" he breathed with an almost proud and awed sound in his voice. "Ed, your Sexy Mouth is one hot chick you are a lucky lucky man. Yes, a lucky lucky man" he repeated as he tried to repack the suitcase as best he could. I pushed him out of the way when I realised that he was just randomly stuffing things back wherever they would fit.

As I refolded clothes and put all the tubes and bottles back into the mammoth bag of beauty, Em was reclining back on my bed reading the back of the vibrator box and smirking.

"Hey stud", I said getting his attention, "hand that back to me so I can stuck it in the bag", I paused, "unless you want me to tell her that you kept it?" He handed it back to me quickly and I tucked it back into small pocket it had come from.

"I wish it was my bag that had been swapped for some hot chick's, then I could have dibs on her" he muttered under his breath.

"Come on guys," Jasper said, hanging up the phone. "Sexy Mouth has just phoned downstairs as well to report the mix up, and they are calling her to take your suitcase down to the desk for a swap as we speak. So let's get going and meet this gorgeous little minx and pray that she has got two friends for us."

I dressed in a pair of Jasper's slightly too-short trousers and one of Emmett's massive shirts and headed down to the lobby to get my stuff back. Emmett turned to look at me once we were in the elevator.

"You know that it's only 'cos of the Bro Code that I'm letting you have this girl, right?", he asked. "Because after a rifle through that case I think she is my perfect woman". He said in all seriousness.

"Anything with a vagina and a pulse is your kind of woman" Jazz laughed as the elevator doors slid open. Emmett didn't even try and argue. We stepped out into the lobby and the blonde at the front desk directed us out to the bar and a table where three girls were sitting.

"Thank you God, there are three of them" Jasper whispered. I could only assume and pray the one with my suitcase sitting beside her chair was Sexy Mouth. We had not been wrong, she was fucking gorgeous.

###

A/N Remember, reviews are better than a strutting waiter serving you cosmos.

Chapter four next week. xxx


	4. Chapter 4 Meeting

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

So by now you will hopefully have noticed that chapter 3 was a big fuck-up. If you haven't back-tracked to read the newly posted replacement, check it out now. I decided to post on my own, and let's face it, I shouldn't be allowed to do that again. Apparently it makes the most sense to post the final version of a chapter. Who knew?

And now for my next confession – this one's a shorty. Bella doesn't get a POV. She did have one, but on review, it was a repeat of Edward's POV from the last chapter and was messing with the flow. Before you roll your eyes at me, remember, this fic is written a few chapters in advance and I can assure you that in the near future, I'm a lot more onto it. Bear with me, it will get better, I promise!

To make up for all of this malarkey, I'm posting earlier than I promised! I do love you, really...

Big kisses *MWAH MWAH* to those who added me to their alerts, favourites lists and left me reviews. Reviews are my own personal brand of heroin ... so hook a sister up.

Big love to my Fic-Bitch, I-heart-Fifty, without whom I have successfully proven that I am nothing. **[Fic-Bitch note: follow me on Twitter! I_heart_Fifty. Thx!]**

###

**EDWARD**

We all turned to look at each other, mouths slightly agape. We were each looking at our perfect women; it was like we had placed our orders from a heaven-sent list of perfect women and these three were what popped out.

"Please please PLEASE, let the hot blonde be single" I could hear Emmett muttering under his breath. I glanced toward the blonde and with one look I knew she was right up Emmett's street. Blonde, gorgeous and a smokin' rack, in short, Em's perfect woman.

"I've got dibs on the small but perfect one" Jasper piped up. I looked to her also and realised Jasper had summed her up in one sentence. She was tiny, sitting at least a head shorter than the others at the table and from the girls Jazz has dated before I knew she was exactly his idea of perfect. Pixie features and delicate looking but by no means a pushover, if the tousle she was having with the blonde was anything to go by.

"Well, boys" I said, glancing first at Em's stunned expression then at Jasper's, "let's go and get my stuff back."

They were right behind me as I strolled over to where Sexy Mouth was sitting. On our approach the hot blonde raised her head and sent us a look that, in other circumstances, would have made me hard. Sure she was gorgeous and had an amazing rack but I could not take my eyes off Sexy Mouth. However a quick glance at Em made me realise he was not so lucky, he had an almost pained look on his face and a growing bulge in his pants.

"You must be the guy who swiped Bella's panties" said the hot blonde, while the smaller one stifled a giggle and Sexy Mouth tried not to choke on her pastel yellow cocktail, complete with umbrella.

"Yep, my man Edward here just can't seem to help himself!" Emmett said, before I had a chance to open my mouth. "I'm Emmett" he continued, "this is Jasper, and you know the panty thief is Edward." I inwardly cringed and hoped that the name wouldn't stick.

"I'm Alice" the small one said, "and these are my friends, Rosalie and Bella" pointing to the other two, all the while never taking her eye off Jasper. So, Sexy Mouth was called Bella. I swept my eyes over her and tried to take her all in, well all I could see above the table. Her hair was in a sexy, messy knot on the top of her head with what looked like a chopstick holding it in place, my fingers were itching to pull it out and see all that hair cascade down her back. Her face was perfection, all soft and feminine and that mouth was to die for. A big full lower lip that she was currently biting on, I gulped nosily, fuck I was a goner.

Bella turned to look at me those big brown eyes dazzling me with seemingly out even trying and my throat got all dry, I hoped that she had not caught me drooling. "Here's your stuff" she said in a voice that sounded like she had been holding her breath. She thrust the suitcase at me awkwardly across the table. It looked like she was struggling to hold the case above the table so I motioned to Emmett who was standing on her side of the table and he stepped forward to take it from her.

"Thanks for that, sorry about the mix up. Here's yours." I walked around to where she was seated, dropped it beside her where mine had been before she had thrust it at me, and kind of stood there awkwardly holding my case and trying not to stare at her.

"Would you like to join us for a drink?" the hot blonde purred, asking all of us but looking only at Emmett.

"Sure thing, gorgeous!" Em said, while heading to the table next to us to grab some extra chairs. I'm not sure how he managed to do it without being obvious, but when I sat down I realise Sexy Mouth was on one side of me and the hot blonde was on the other. I glanced around the table and saw that Jazz was sitting between Sexy Mouth and Small But Perfect. I didn't need to look to see that Em was beside the hot blonde. I really needed to get all the names straight, I didn't want to fuck it up by calling Bella Sexy Mouth or give the vibe that I too was after Rosalie by calling her a hot blonde.

Jasper motioned to the waiter: "three beers for us, and same again ladies?" He asked. Good one Jazz, ever the gentleman.

"Actually," Alice interrupted; "we are up to the chocolate martinis" she smiled at the waiter

"What do you mean, up to?" Jasper asked, his eyes never leaving her face through the whole conversation. Shit that boy had it bad. I had never seen him so enthralled by a girl and Alice looked equally as smitten. Lucky fucker. I wished Bella would look at me with that kind of interest. Actually, I wished she would look at me at all.

"Well," Sexy Mouth interrupted, gesturing to the hot blonde – "Rose here thought it would be fun to work our way through the cocktail list over the next two weeks and see which ones we like the best". It didn't escape my notice that she looked at everyone else seated at the table apart from me.

I tried to look at her face while she was talking but my eyes keep slipping to the neckline of her obviously too-big top. Jasper caught me and gave me the "eyes up" look. I reluctantly tore my eyes away from the gentle swell of her breasts before she started to talk again. It was no wonder she didn't look at me if I was continuously ogling her, girls seemed to have a sixth sense about guys checking out their racks. Must pay attention, follow Jaspers advice and keep my eyes up on Bella's gorgeous face. Let's face it - it's not like it was going to be a hardship.

"Earlier today we had a Bahama Mama, an Air Force One, a Banana Daiquiri and were just finishing off these Cosmopolitans while we waited for you to bring back my case" She giggled. This stopped me short; Bella didn't strike me as the giggling type. This was confirmed by the look that the blonde shot her when the giggle escaped.

We all looked at each other and realised that they were drunk, not slurring their words and falling down drunk, but impaired judgement giggly drunk. None of them were particularly big and four (soon to be five) cocktails on a probably empty stomach would have really hit them hard. I raised an eyebrow at my brothers.

"A round of iced waters too, please" Jasper asked as the waiter set our drinks down on the table. Frosted beer bottles and looks of distain for us and martini glasses with creamy brown liquid, swirls of chocolate syrup, chocolate curls and lavish winks for the girls. All three girls gave little squeals of delight as the drinks were set in front of them followed by tiny moans of appreciation after taking a sip. Sexy Mouth confirmed her name as she pulled the cherry garnish off the top of the drink, sucked off the chocolate that was sticking to it then popped it into her mouth. Then with a look of utter bliss on her face, she closed her eyes and chewed while pulling the naked stem out from between those kissable lips. I swallowed a nervous gulp. Fuck, that was hot. I exchanged looks with the guys again, definitely drunk, very hot but drunk. We needed a plan, and quick.

"We were about to head into the restaurant when the panty debacle occurred, would you ladies like to join us?" Emmett asked. Good one Em, I thought, let's get some food into them to soak up all those cocktails.

Sexy Mouth blushed a charming shade of pink, glanced at the others then slowly spoke. "I need to go and put some of my own clothes on first, but we would love to. How about we meet you in the restaurant in 20 minutes?"

"Perfect" I replied, and I wasn't just talking about dinner.

###

A/N = reviews are right up there with having a chocolate martini next to Edward. And I promise to reply to every one!

Till next Saturday xxx


	5. Chapter 5 Primping

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to [at]17foreverLisa for my funky picture thing on my profile page. (I know Fic-Bitch will try and change this to its proper name but I just want you all to know how computer illiterate I REALLY am so Fic-Bitch, hands off!) **[OK, calm down!]**

Also thanks to everyone who is reading, adding me to their favourites and reviewing, I do reply to all the reviews I get (which is pretty simple when you only have 15... not that I'm complaining, just happy that people are reading. Well, either that or they are logging on to point and laugh) so please show me some love!

I write a few chapters ahead and need a little help. Can you fabulous readers please suggest names for cocktails starting with F or G? All the ones I have Googled sound lame!

Lastly, thanks to my fab Fic-Bitch I_heart_Fifty without whom this story wouldn't get properly posted and there would still be spelling mistakes. Love you long time x **[P.S. you can follow me on Twitter too… [at]I_Heart_Fifty. Thx!]**

###

**BELLA**

As soon as the big guy mentioned dinner, I inwardly cringed at the thought of what I was going to wear. This wasn't something that usually went through my mind given my usual (somewhat limited) wardrobe, but after our earlier conversation I had a rough idea of what Alice had packed - I was sure that it was not going to be my usual style. I also knew that if they had rummaged through my case (the way we did to Edward's) then these three, incredibly hot, guys had seen exactly what was in there. I shuddered at the thought as the blush crept up my cheeks. Holy hell in a handbag - why did I give Alice free reign?

"I need to go and put some of my own clothes on first, but we would love to, how about we meet you in the restaurant in 20 minutes?" I replied, careful to keep my eyes from Edward and trying to keep my voice steady so as not to give away how nervous I was. I knew that one look into those gorgeous green eyes and I would be reduced to an incoherent mess.

Usually after a few drinks I was incapable of blushing, stammering or any of the other charming nervous tics I had developed over the years, but my breakup with James seemed to have reverted me to the teenager I had tried so hard to banish.

Alice shot me a look. I knew her well enough to know that she was glad I had said yes, but horrified that I had only given us 20 minutes to get ready. If I had been getting myself ready at home that would have been more than long enough to choose something from my meagre closet and put on the small amount of make up that I wore, however here I knew that would not be the case. From the furious look she was giving me behind Jasper's back I knew I would be getting an earful when we were alone.

We finished our drinks and confirmed with the guys that they would be in the restaurant waiting at the table whenever we were ready. I could tell from the way they looked at each other that they thought 20 minutes could not possibly be enough time for us to get ready and they would be waiting a lot longer. However, they didn't know Alice and the almost anal-retentiveness for punctuality that she had.

From the look that the big one gave Rose as we stood up, I could tell he wouldn't mind watching her walk away. I knew I was right as I could feel their eyes on us, specifically our butts, as we headed towards the elevator. As we crossed the shiny lobby floor I fought the urge to turn and take a good look at Edward. I had only managed a glimpse since first laying eyes on him and that fleeting glance had told me he was beyond gorgeous.

I didn't really know what was stopping me having a full on perv-fest but for some strange reason I couldn't seem to meet his gaze. Maybe the whole James situation had left me more fucked up than I had realised. I gave a little sigh of resignation as we stepped into the waiting elevator.

As soon as the door slid shut Alice turned to Rose.

"I want Jasper and I can tell the big one wants you bad, so it's all sorted then?" she said. They sounded like children divvying up sweets after a big Halloween haul. I knew without a doubt that I was attracted to Edward and that I wanted him like a fat kid wants cake but all I could focus on was the one thought consistently running through my head. What would a guy like him want with a girl like me? I was brought back to the present by Rose's giggle.

"I could tell, too" she purred. "I could see the rather large evidence in his pants when he sat down" she raised an eyebrow knowingly followed by another giggle.

"So Bella, was Bronze God all you imagined and more?" Alice probed. Both she and Rose had turned to look at me and were standing there waiting for an answer. I could downplay my feelings but I knew they would find out sooner or later, so I bit the bullet and laid my feelings out on the table.

I raised my arms up in preparation for fist bumps. "Archangel on an anchovy, he's gorgeous" I breathed. They giggled and fist bumped me, I continued "When he sat down next to me I wanted to hop out of my chair, straddle his lap, grab his hair and kiss him senseless" I panted. I was breathing a bit harder now at the thought of kissing Edward and running my hands though that sexy bed hair. What I didn't tell them was that while I wanted to do all of that, plus more, I couldn't even bring myself to look at him.

"Ooh, looks like horny Bella has come out to play!" Rose stared to sing. "First comes tipsy Bella, then horny Bella, then giggly Bella…" she trailed off and glanced quickly at Alice.

"Don't worry" I said quickly, "I will stick to water from now on, you both know we don't want vomiting Bella to make an appearance".

Alice put her hand to her head as we stepped out of the elevator and headed towards our suite. "I think I will stick to water too girls, I feel a bit swoony and want to dazzle Jasper with my beauty, brains and wit. You can't do that if you can't stop giggling" she giggled. "Oh shit it's started already!"

"Drink up", Rose said as she walked to the mini bar and opened each of us a bottle of water. "Now Bella, let's get you ready first, then Alice and I can quickly touch up our make up so we can go get us some sexy men".

Ten minutes and about a million costume changes later, we had come to a compromise. I was floaty and feminine enough for Alice, stylish enough for Rosalie and not too outrageous for me. We had eventually settled on an A-line skirt the colour of caramel with sequins and beads sewn on in random patterns with a sheer aqua peasant style top. Rose had finished it off with sexy sandals with 4 inch heels, I was still hoping that she would change her mind and let me wear my flats but I wasn't holding my breath.

"Heels make your legs look longer, butt look better and give you a sexy swing in your hips" Rose had instructed. "I know that tonight you want to work it, you need all the swing you can get so no flats!" she said firmly handing me the sandals and escorting me over to the couch to supervise me putting them on.

"Just enough time left for a bit of makeup" Rosalie said, as she hoisted a makeup bag as big as hers and Alice's onto my bathroom vanity.

"Is all that mine?" I asked hesitantly, gesturing to the large and unfamiliar vanity case. Alice nodded while unloading enough makeup to rival even her vast collection.

"Where did you get all this stuff, Alice?" I asked in disbelief, "you must have been shopping for ages".

She looked a bit sheepish. "I tend to get stuff in your colours when I buy my own, you know, on the off-chance that you might wear it sometime", she blushed. I leaned over and gave her a fierce hug, and reached over and pulled Rose in as well, I really had the best friends and was glad because sometimes I am a little clueless when it comes to all things girly. I pulled back from my friends enough to look at their faces but still holding onto them.

"Girls," I started slowly. "I have a small confession."

They both opened their mouths to speak but I held my hand up.

"No please, let me talk. Now I want both of you to ignore that I've had numerous cocktails today and just listen to what I have to say."

Alice raised her finger as if to speak. I placed my hand gently over her mouth. "Al, please" I said quietly. She lowered her finger.

"I know that I have been a little," I paused for a second while I considered what to say, "...off these last few months and I want you to know that while I don't show it, I really appreciate all that you do for me. Packing my case, buying me all these gorgeous clothes," I gestured to my outfit, "and buying all this makeup when you get your own."

A wide smile appeared on both their faces. "I know James knocked my confidence and I'm ready to try and regain some of it back, ok?"

I finished quietly. "You can talk now."

Alice and Rose looked to each other and then Rose spoke first.

"We love you too babe" she said quietly, "and again, that's not just the drink talking. We'll do whatever it takes to have our girl back." She leant down and kissed my cheek.

Alice looked at me for permission to speak. "You can talk now, Al" I said with a giggle.

"I'm so glad you're ready to be back to your usually fabulous self, and I'm sorry for interfering with the stuff I packed and the things I bought. I only want to help and make you feel as beautiful on the outside as we know you are on the inside." She was whispering now, tears welling up in her eyes. I felt a little teary myself as I reached in to hug her and Rose again.

"Well, I'm glad you did all of that interfering, 'cos I want that Bronze God in my bed, and I need you girls to help me".

###

**EDWARD**

After we watched that set of three fine asses sway towards the elevators we all looked at each other. Jazz was the first to speak.

"I think I'm in love, did you see how perfect Alice was?" he sighed, wistfully looking in the direction they had disappeared to.

I knew Jasper had it bad and that little sigh was all the proof I needed. I was glad that I was not on my own with the infatuation. Though Bella had only briefly looked at me and we had barely spoken, I already wanted Bella to come home and meet my parents, I bet Mom would love her. Shit, I gave myself a little shake, where the fuck had that come from. I groaned, I really needed to get laid.

"Sure, she was cute" Emmett said bringing me back to the present, "but did you check the rack on the blonde?" I'm going to feel like a kid at Christmas unwrapping those babies" he said wistfully.

"Rosalie, Emmett, her name is Rosalie. If you want to get her into the sack and have the chance to unwrap anything, you better remember her name" I chuckled.

"You know I will" he shot back. "I'm just getting over the shock of how rockin' her body was". He was practically drooling. I remembered the way Bella's too-big top was showing off a nice amount of cleavage and partook in a little mental drooling of my own before kicking myself. She hardly looked at you Cullen, being a bit cocky aren't you? But surely she must be used to guys checking her out all the time. She was gorgeous, all soft and delicate looking without being too in your face, much more my type than Emmett's boner-inducing blonde.

"Yeah, everyone in a ten mile radius realised how much you appreciated her rockin' body" I laughed trying to drag myself back into the conversation. "You had such a hard time adjusting yourself I'm surprised you could even sit down".

"Yeah, yeah I think we get the picture" he mumbled clearly uncomfortable with where this conversation was heading.

"Why Emmett, I do believe you're blushing!" Jasper drawled as a very unattractive red crept across Emmett's cheeks.

"So Edward, was Sexy Mouth the complete package for you?" Emmett asked, turning all the attention to me in attempt to change the subject.

"You can tell she was by the way he hardly said anything since we sat down", Jasper replied for me. "Come on Bro, you are usually so smooth and you could barely string two sentences together, you must have it bad."

They were right, to steal Jasper's words, she was perfect. Long dark hair, big brown eyes, and a cute figure from what I could see under that shirt. Not as stacked as the blonde but she caught my attention all the same. And that mouth, we had been joking around with that Sexy Mouth bullshit but we couldn't have been more right.

From the moment I saw her, I just wanted to bend down and run my tongue along that pouty full lower lip. Every time she nervously licked her lips, which was a lot, I just wanted to lean over and capture it with my tongue. I bet she tasted like heaven.

The only thing that I couldn't get my head around was the fact that she didn't look at me. Apart from when we had first arrived and introductions were made she had barely glanced in my direction. If I didn't feel such a magnetic pull towards her and she wasn't so bloody gorgeous I probably would have just settled for being friends. Could I ask the guys their opinions about this without sounding like I was 14 again?

"Enough time to squeeze in another round, gentlemen?" Emmett asked, motioning to the waiter for three more beers. In the time we had been sitting there the patio bar had filled up. I glanced around us and noticed that there were a lot of people our age. A table just to our right held some girls who were showing obvious signs of interest, but none of them caught my eye as they previously would have pre-Bella. They were all babes we would have usually been right in there, buying drinks and flinging complements, but all of us stayed seated where we where and gave them nothing more than cursory glances. We were whipped by girls we barely knew.

"What's with all the Fabio-looking guys around this place?" Emmett mumbled dragging our attention to the above-average looking wait and bar staff.

"What you scared of, the competition? Upset that you're not the most cut guy around here?" We ribbed him. Emmett prided himself on being a "perfect male specimen" and loved nothing more than said muscles being admired by girls and envied by guys.

We lapsed into silence as Fabio placed our beers on the table and turned away, it did not escape our notice that we didn't get the previous high level of attention and service that we had received when the girls were at the table.

"Nice work on the seating arrangements dude, very smooth indeed". Jasper said, holding up his beer bottle in a toast. I had to agree, Em was the master manipulator and had helped to set the scene for us on more than one occasion, but even after all this time I was still little in awe of how he did it so flawlessly.

"Anything I can do to help our chances, boys. Of course, I don't need the help but you two on the other hand…" He trailed off. But seriously for a sec, you guys know I've got your backs right? He asked, Jasper and I both nodded, a little stunned that Em had gone serious. "Good" he continued in that same serous tone, "cos I think it's time you guys got some action before your dicks shrivel up and fall off". And he's back.

While we laughed my thoughts drifted to Bella and the contents of her suitcase, what would she turn up wearing? Would her face be unrecognisably plastered in makeup, there had been a lot of it in that bag. Would she still have that same mouth watering smell or would she be drowned in an overpowering perfume like a lot of girls tend to be? More importantly, which scrap of silky material would she have underneath, and would I get the pleasure of seeing it? I gulped.

"You coming man?" Jazz asked.

I snapped out of my Bella-induced daze and realised that they were both standing waiting for me. "Unless you want to wear our clothes to dinner, you better get your shit together, the girls will be down soon" Jasper said.

I stood with them and gave Jasper a look that made him hang back a bit as Emmett strode across the lobby. "What's up Bro?" he asked quietly.

"Um, uh…" I stalled for a bit, wondering how to phrase this. To his credit, Jazz just stood there patiently waiting for me to spit out whatever was on my mind.

"Well," I tried again. "There is no easy way to say this, but do you think Bella likes me?" I blurted out.

Without even skipping a beat, he spoke. "Does a bear shit in the woods?" I let out the breath I wasn't aware I had been holding in a whoosh.

"Thank fucking God!" I muttered feeling an immense amount of relief. Jasper had always been good at judging people's reactions and if he thought Bella was into me then I believed him. He just smiled at me and clapped a hand over my shoulder.

"Let's catch up with Em before he realises we are not behind him." I followed Jasper across the lobby to where Emmett was waiting for the elevator chatting to us as if we were right behind him the whole time.

"I got 20 bucks says they keep us waiting" he turned to look at us.

"You're on!" Jasper and I said together.

###

A/N – Reviews are better than Edward, Emmett and Jasper drooling over your ass

Don't forget the cocktail suggestions in your reviews :)

See you next week, Jul xx


	6. Chapter 6 Dining

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

Big kisses to my fab Fic-Bitch I_heart_Fifty who comes over to help me decorate my son's first birthday cake. Which looks fucking awesome, for the record. Totes loves you long time.

Also thanks to all those who review and add me to alerts you give me a big load of warm fuzzies whenever I get the emails. Big love to TheKDub22 who hooked me up with a fantastic Flirtini recipe for one of my later chapters, love ya babe x

Hope you enjoy the chapter :)

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**BELLA**

Precisely 20 minutes after we left the bar we arrived in the restaurant. Alice was a stickler for punctuality.

"It's rude to keep people waiting, it sends the message that you think they aren't important" Alice said primly. While I agreed with what she was saying I did have a bit of trouble getting places on time. I tended to get caught up in what I was doing and lose track of the time, it was a terrible habit and one Alice was trying to break me of.

"And we all know we would like them to be very important indeed!" Rose said with a wink

We entered the restaurant and were greeted by another extremely good looking waiter. What was with all the eye candy in this place? "How can I help you lovely ladies this evening? A table for three, or are you meeting someone?" he enquired with a purr, while not so discreetly looking us all up and down, stopping to linger over Rose's ample cleavage.

"We're meeting someone" I replied a tone of smugness in my voice. Yep, no table of single ladies here tonight, we had dates.

"Name?" he asked as he reluctantly tore his gaze from Rose's goodies and looked down at the large reservation book on the desk in front of him.

"Uh..." I started. Oh shit, I didn't know any of the boys' last names, had they booked under their first names, their room number or maybe under one of our names... I was starting to get a bit flustered and looked to the girls for help. Rose was scanning the crowded restaurant while Alice rubbed soothing circles on my back.

"It's OK, I see them there" Rose answered quickly putting me back at ease. I felt myself relax again only to tense up again at the thought of seeing Edward. 

"Just breathe" Alice whispered to me with one last soothing rub on my back.

"I'm trying" I murmured. "Believe me, I'm trying."

"Very good" he replied. "If you will please follow me."

We were led through the restaurant to the terrace where tables ringed the perimeter looking out onto the sand and water beyond. It was gorgeous. The torches that had been lit around the edge of the patio cast shadows around giving a great ambience. It may have looked amazing but it was not helping me relax. Alice shot me a look and I took a few steadying breaths as we got closer to the table.

The boys all stood as we approached. Damn, they were hotter than I remembered, especially Edward. I started to feel more flustered the closer we got to the table. Deep breaths Bella, deep breaths - I chanted to myself over and over. I wondered how this dinner was going to progress, would the conversation flow or was it going to be awkward? Would the boys fight over who got to sit next to Rose? It had happened before.

I needn't have worried. As soon as I was in earshot, Edward spoke to me. "Bella you look gorgeous, can I take your jacket?" He helped me remove my jacket, his hands lingering on my shoulders before handing it to the waiter before pulling out my chair and helping me sit.

I felt a little flustered - my arm and the small of my back where he had touched me were tingling and I could feel the blush rising. I was trying my best to look at Edward as much as possible; Rose had given me a mini lecture about making sure I was giving off 'I'm interested' vibes. This included lots of eye contact, lingering glances and touching wherever and whenever I could.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and looked around. Jasper was leaning close to Alice. He whispered something into her ear and she giggled. She caught my eye and winked, as if to encourage me, then turned back to Jasper and what he was saying.

Emmett was looking like the cat that got the cream with his arm slung around the back of Rose's chair. Both of them were looking at the same wine menu. I saw him take a good look down the front of her top, but from the way she had her arms slightly pushed together in the cleavage enhancing stance she had taught me I didn't think she would mind.

The boys had taken charge and arranged it so we were in the same seating configuration as earlier in the bar. I had to hand it to them, these guys were smooth. A comfortable silence had settled over the table as we all looked at the menu and snuck glances at each other. I could tell just by looking at my girls that they were smitten.

Alice kept shooting quick little glances at Jasper all the while a huge grin was plastered on her face and she was occasionally bouncing around in her chair. Rose kept looking up at Emmett through her lashes, acting coy but wanting him just the same. I could feel the heat radiating off Edward as he sat next to me. I could faintly smell the aftershave from his suitcase, it was then I realised that all three boys had changed.

I caught Alice's eye and realised that this fact had not escaped her either. Gone were the slightly too short trousers and the large shirt. They were replaced with a pair of khaki coloured trousers and a light blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms. His arms were lean and strong looking with just a sprinkling of hair. I felt the overwhelming desire to lean over and lick his wrist.

I took a deep breath and turned my head slightly to look at Edward, the first time I had done so while he had actually been aware of it. When I met his eyes a small zing of electricity went through me and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It felt like my whole body was on high alert, looking at Edward was making me feel like I was floating. Rather than turning my eyes down like I wanted to I held his gaze my attention moving to that fuck-hot mouth as he started to talk.

"It's nice to get your own stuff back, huh?" He asked, leaning closer to me to pour some water into my glass. I didn't care what he was doing I was just glad he did it. The closer he got the more intense the zing I was feeling got. I was hypnotised by the movement of his mouth, the way that full bottom lip wrapped around the vowels he spoke and the sexy way his tongue shot out of his mouth to wet his lips. I took a deep steadying breath and my nostrils were again filled with that yummy scent of cologne plus something else that I couldn't put my finger on, something that was intrinsically Edward. I wanted more of that, I needed more of that and I wanted and needed it real bad.

I have never been a very good flirter and am quite shy around boys until I get to know them. My tongue always seemed to be tied around gorgeous men, and Edward seemed to be no exception. Don't get me wrong, I've had my fair share of boyfriends, but it always took me a while to feel comfortable, to know what to say without sounding like a complete airhead, which I wasn't. I just didn't have the skill and sex appeal of Rose or the exuberance and sparkling personality of Alice. I knew that I had all of these traits deep down but it usually took time plus some serious effort on my part for them to shine through. It seemed that after the James situation these traits were buried deeper than normal and I was having a hard time digging them out.

I decided that since we were never likely to see these guys again, I was going to channel my inner sex-kitten and see where it took me. This was a pretty big hotel and I was sure I could avoid them for the next two weeks if I had to. I also knew that Alice and Rose were loyal to a fault and would stop seeing their own guys if it came to that. I was hoping that it wasn't going to, 'cos from the way Alice was looking at Jasper I didn't think she would be in a hurry to quit that.

Edward was still looking at me with those gorgeous green eyes expectantly waiting for an answer, a comment, a head nod or some form of acknowledgement that he had spoken. In true Bella fashion I blushed under his gaze, and dipped my eyes to avoid his.

I inwardly groaned when I realised that the blush, duck and cover I was doing was not in fact helping my cause but hindering it. I gave myself a short pep talk. 'Come on Bells, put on your big girl pants and wow him so he wants to help you out of them'. Remember what Rose said, lots of eye contact, lingering gazes and touching whenever and wherever possible.

I took a deep breath, turned my face slightly to look straight into Edward's eyes while at the same time placing my hand lightly on his knee and giving a little squeeze

"I wouldn't mind getting you out of your stuff, actually".

###

**EDWARD**

We headed upstairs for a quick change of clothes and a debrief. When I tossed my suitcase on the bed and opened it, I noticed that it was arranged differently from when I packed it. Now I didn't feel so bad about having had a good rummage in Bella's case. Well, actually I did feel bad because of what Emmett had found, but was hoping to benefit from that little discovery.

I felt a bit more confident about Bella's feelings after my short talk with Jasper, I just had to turn on as much charm as I could muster to make her mine, even if only for one night. I was hoping for more than that but I would take whatever I could get.

We walked into the restaurant and were greeted by another Fabio clone. "Where do they find these guys?" I muttered under my breath, but I could tell that Emmett had heard as he snorted.

"Table for three, gentlemen?" Fabio inquired, snootily peering down his nose at us as he spoke, "or are you expecting company?" The way that he was looking at us clearly showed that he didn't think we were worth the effort of spending too much time on.

"We're expecting company" I answered, "the girls will be down shortly".

"Excellent, I will show them to your table" he assured us. "Right this way". He led us to the middle of the busy restaurant and offered us a table. What a cockblocker, we could hardly hear him over the din of the other diners and the music. I resigned myself to the fact that I would probably not get much of a chance to talk to Bella, I started to pull out one of the chairs when Emmett spoke. "Got anything with a bit more, uh, ambiance?" he asked while simultaneously gesturing to the quieter terrace through the large doors and slipping the waiter a twenty.

"Of course," Fabio replied without missing a beat. "Right this way." He led us outside onto the large terrace which had widely spaced tables and gestured to one off to the side. He looked to Emmett for confirmation. "Perfect!" Em confirmed and slipped him another tip. Smooth fucker. I threw him a look of gratitude.

We seated ourselves spaced around the table in the same formation as earlier. I was not going to miss the chance to sit beside Bella again and I know that others felt the same 'about their girls. I was shifting around nervously in my seat as we waited and Jasper rolled his eyes and threw me a look that clearly said 'Relax.' I slumped back into my seat and tried to do as he suggested.

"You've got three minutes before you have to pay up" Emmett said pointing to his watch, reminding us of our bet. "They'll be here" I said, confidently.

Sure enough, a few minutes later I caught sight of Rosalie's blonde hair, and there beside her was Bella, looking hot in a floaty skirt and top, both of which I recognised from the rummage in her suitcase. I fleetingly wondered what she had underneath before shaking my head a little to drag my mind out of the gutter and back to the present. My breath caught in my throat a little as I took a good look at her, she was stunning all soft and feminine and while she might not be perfect she was perfect for me. I wanted her to be my girl, I wanted to be the one who was responsible for the smile on her face, the one who gave her tingles to her toes and the one whose name she would moan in the throes of passion.

All three of us stood as they approached, Bella looked directly at me for the very first time and when she smiled at me and I felt myself grin widely in response.

"Bella, you look gorgeous, can I take your jacket?" I asked. Part of me wanted to be a gentleman, but the other part just wanted to touch her. My fingers tingled where I touched her arm and shoulders while helping with her jacket. I unnecessarily touched the small of her back to help her into her chair. My Mom had raised me right and I was extra thankful for this fact as Bella gave me a warm smile of thanks.

She smelled fucking amazing. Sweet, summery and womanly, but subtle - not overpowering like some girls tend to be. I leaned closer so I could be surrounded by her scent. I could feel myself stirring in my pants. Deep breaths, buddy, the night is young.

We lapsed into a comfortable silence as everyone perused the menus and I noticed that Bella was looking around the table and again everywhere except at me. I had almost resigned myself to the fact that maybe she just wasn't that into me when she turned and gave me the biggest and most beautiful smile I had ever seen. I held her gaze for a few seconds and tried to read her face. Her pupils were huge and every time she blinked those long lashes swept closed in a hypnotic fashion, I was mesmerised and at the same time I was feeling a little put out that I had been missing out on this for so long.

Her eyes left mine and I was drawn to her mouth as she had drawn her bottom lip in between her teeth and was biting gently. I needed to ask her something so I could watch that sexy mouth in motion.

"It's nice to get your own stuff back, huh?" I asked her as I leaned over to pour some water into her glass. She played with the stem of the glass as I filled my own but did not take a sip. There was a lengthy pause as she blushed and looked down, avoiding my gaze. I was beginning to wonder if she hadn't heard me and was about to speak again when I saw her take a deep calming breath, the look on her face was like she was deciding what to say. I decided to give her a chance to respond.

I picked up my own glass and took a sip just as she open her mouth to speak, there was a glint in her eye and a cock stiffening smirk on her face. She looked me straight in the eye, leaned in close and placed her warm little hand on my thigh. I was a little shocked at the sudden change of pace but at the same time overjoyed. She continued to look at me, gave my knee a gentle squeeze and opened that fucking amazing mouth to speak "I wouldn't mind getting you out of your stuff actually" she almost purred.

My eyes widened with amazement and I almost choked on my water as I processed what she had just said. I felt my cock stiffen further in my pants in response to her words but I quickly recovered.

"The feeling is mutual" I replied, and turned to look at her properly.

She had a slight blush creeping up her neck which made me think that this was not something she did every day. That fact made me even hotter. I moved uncomfortably, trying to adjust myself without drawing attention to the fact while she continued to gaze at me, that sexy smile firmly in place.

Our moment was interrupted by the waiter coming over to take our drink order. The three girls shot quick glances at each other. The waiter looked at Bella, "Just a diet coke please" she said. When the other girls followed suit I realised that they knew their alcohol limits.

The boys and I ordered a beer each then we all stopped talking to look at the menu. I realised how hungry I was, and from the amount Em and Jazz ordered I knew they were too. I was glad to see that the girls had healthy appetites, there's nothing worse than a girl who picks at her salad, then hoovers down your dessert.

Our meals came quickly and the conversation flowed like we had known each other for a while rather than just hours. Rosalie had a dry, dirty sense of humour with a flair for witty one-liners and while Alice looked sweet, she could swear like a sailor and had the most amazingly colourful vocabulary. Bella was fun, smart and sexy and when she relaxed enough to enjoy herself it was like the real Bella shone through before she quickly realised what had happened and she retreated into herself again. As the night wore on it became glaringly obvious that I wanted her more and more. I tried not to look at her too much and focus on my food but I couldn't help myself - she was gorgeous.

During dessert, the topic of home came up. "So, hot blonde" Em addressed Rosalie, "where is home for you three?"

"Seattle" Rose answered simply. My heart skipped a beat and I froze my spoon halfway to my mouth. "Seattle?" I squeaked my voice high and unnatural sounding all the while my heart thumping loudly in my chest.

Bella looked at me with an odd look on her face. "Yes, why?" I looked to the other guys again and they looked just as excited as I felt.

"We live in Seattle, too" I spoke again, thankfully this time in my regular voice. I kept my eyes on Bella trying to gauge what her reaction was going to be, hoping she would look as excited as I felt.

"Maybe we can hang out when we get home then" Alice said in cheery voice, Jasper nodded enthusiastically all the while he gazed at her adorningly.

This small fact made me irrationally excited and I wanted to bounce up and down in my chair like I had seen Alice do over the course of dinner. Shit, I was a pussy, but a pussy that could have a relationship with Bella.

I was coming down off my high when Rose spoke.

###

A/N - Everyone loves a cliffy right? Right..?

Reviews are better than Edward buying you dinner.

See you next week.

Jul xx


	7. Chapter 7 Strolling

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

An apology in advance to any Seattle natives. While I have backpacked around the US for 2 months, I never made it to Seattle. All the information in this fic was sourced from the Seattle Department of Planning and Development website.

Big love to my fab Fic-Bitch I_heart_Fifty for continually correcting spelling, babysitting my children while I finish my chapters, and being my all-round BFF.

This is also my first foray into lemonade so please be gentle in your reviews.

###

**BELLA**

"I need a bathroom break girls, you too?" She asked with raised eyebrows. It wasn't really a question, more of a request - plus a chance to discuss the game plan.

The boys rolled their eyes at each other, surely they knew that girls pee in packs?

"Don't worry", Rose said sweetly, "we'll be right back."

Once we were in the bathroom, they both turned me towards the mirror, Alice touched up my makeup while Rose ran a comb through my hair. I knew the onslaught was coming so I kept quiet, waiting to see who was going to break first. My money was on Alice. Rose cleared her throat, startling me a little.

"So, I hear that you want to get the Bronze God out of his clothes" she grinned at me in the mirror while she continued to comb my hair. "I like it, girl" she continued. "Didn't think you had it in you!" I blushed a little but held her gaze. I felt proud of myself for being so brazen and actually going after what I wanted for a change.

Alice bounced a little in excitement, which was frightening as she was touching up my eye makeup at the time. Surprisingly, she kept a steady hand and my makeup was touched up and perfect in record time.

"Good one, Bella!" she squealed, and without taking a breath she launched into what we had nicknamed an Alice monologue. Rose and I looked at each other and she rolled her eyes, it was best just to ride it out and let Alice get it out of her system. We had found out the hard way that interrupting her only led to more problems.

"Oh my god I can't believe that they live in Seattle too, what are the odds! I mean Seattle has an estimated population of just on six hundred and two thousand people and we meet three hot guys from the same city, I know that Seattle is over 360 square kilometres but really what are the chances! And for them to be staying at the same hotel, at the same time, I bet they were on our flight too, and for Edward to have your suitcase Bella and for us to meet them on our first night here…" She abruptly stopped and took a deep breath before looking at both of us.

"This, my girls, is kismet". She paused for a minute to let it sink in, then spoke again.

"So Bells, what's the game plan?"

"I'm not really sure", I stammered, still recovering from Alice's monologue.

"I say pounce on him, men are stupid and unless it's right there in front of them in flashing lights, they get the wrong signal". Rose drew on her experience.

"I'm pretty sure Edward is just as smitten with Bella as she is with him", Alice said with a grin. "During dinner he was looking at her like he wanted to have his way with her. If it wasn't kinda sickening, it would have been cute".

I blushed. "What should I do?" I pushed Rose's hand away that was brushing my hair and spun around to look them in the eyes.

"Please help me NOT fuck this up!" I begged. "He's so hot, and I'm so… me" I finished lamely.

Rose grabbed me by the hands and forced me to look at her. "Isabella Marie Swan, this is not the real you. That rat bastard James royally fucked you over and knocked your confidence." Alice nodded in agreement.

"So the plan is to get the old Bella back and have a shitload of fun doing it. Okay?" she asked me, her brows raised.

"Okay" I all but whispered.

"Now repeat after me, Bella. I am a strong, sexy desirable woman and I deserve to be happy and loved". I looked at her hesitantly, not believing a word she was saying.

"Say it" she demanded.

"I am a strong, sexy desirable woman and I deserve to be happy and loved" I mumbled, still not convinced.

"Again!" Alice ordered. "And this time louder, and like you mean it".

"I am a strong, sexy desirable woman and I deserve to be happy and loved". I said louder and with conviction - not all of which was fake. Now I just had to project that outwardly and I would be fine, although I groaned a little on the inside at the thought.

"Now that's more like it!" Rose wore a huge smile of encouragement while handing me some lip gloss. "Take a few deep breaths, and put your game face on."

"I'm going to suggest a stroll on the beach" Alice said, "and we'll both work it so you two are alone". She said, looking at Rose. "Right" she confirmed.

"The rest is up to you, Bells. Good luck babe!" she said and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Enough of the pep talk now go get him Tiger!" Alice whispered in my ear with a slap on the ass as we walked back through the bathroom door and out into the restaurant. I gave a little squeal of surprise and she threw a wink at me over her shoulder.

Rose swept past, whispering. "Remember, smiling is good, confidence is better but kissing is the best!" With a flick of her hair she was back at Emmett's side.

When I arrived back at the table, Edward helped me into my jacket. His hand brushed up my arms sending tingles to my toes. I wanted to grab him and rub myself against him then and there. I was surprised at this new-found confidence. Maybe the girls' pep talk and Rose's mantra had more of an effect than I had initially thought. Whatever it was, I could feel the old Bella slowly surfacing from under all the shit of the last few months.

"Shall we?" Edward asked, and offered me his arm like a guy from an old fashioned movie.

"Why thank you, kind sir" I replied, in my best southern belle accent. We both laughed as we followed the others out of the restaurant and into the lobby of the hotel.

True to her word, Alice suggested a walk along the beach and she and Rose dragged the other boys ahead at a fast pace 'til Edward and I were alone. I had wanted this so badly, but now I had it I wasn't really sure what to do. Did I have the confidence to go through with what I wanted to do so badly? I am a strong, sexy desirable woman and I deserve to be happy and loved… I repeated again in my head.

I can do this,

I want to do this,

I need to do this to get back what James took from me.

I just didn't know if I could.

We were walking along the beautiful moonlit beach next to each other, but no longer touching. I could feel the heat and invisible magnetic pull radiating from Edward and I really wanted to close the distance between us, but something was holding me back. I fought against all the feelings of inadequacy that were bubbling up in me and decided to just take the plunge.

I took a steadying breath and immediately my confidence faltered so I stalled for time by bending down to take off my shoes. The unfamiliarly high heels were digging into the sand as we were walking and the last thing I needed was to trip. As I wobbled a little while unbuckling my shoe, Edward again held out his hand to steady me. I wobbled a little more but before I could end up on my ass, he chuckled.

"Can I help you there?" he asked, a smile in his voice.

"That would be great, thanks" I replied, blushing, unsure of what exactly he was going to do.

He then proceeded to kneel in front of me, gestured for me to rest my hand on his shoulder and placed my shoe on his thigh, unbuckling it and gently slipping my foot out.

Edward repeated the action with the other foot and almost absently ran his hand up my calf before he stood and handed me my shoes with one hand while brushing the sand off his trousers with the other. He also held out his hand for me to hold with a cheeky smile on his face.

"Just in case you get the wobbles again" I laughed and gratefully accepted his offer.

The whole interaction had my heart pounding, and my calf was still tingling from where he had touched me. It made me feel thirteen again, my head was swimming. When he started to draw lazy circles with his thumb I thought 'now is the time, seize the day, just do it' and all the other clichés I could think of..

I dropped my shoes, swung around in his arms, stretched up onto my toes, grabbed the front of his shirt with one hand the back of his head with the other and kissed him.

As his surprised lips met mine it felt so right. He was hesitant at first, maybe from surprise, but once he recovered he very skilfully took over. His arms surrounded me, one came up to cradle my cheek and the other ran up and down the length of my back. He teased my lips with his tongue and I willingly opened them to let him in. I could feel the pull down in my belly and when he started kissing down my neck I felt that I would have fallen had he not been holding me up..

Satan on a Sunday roast, that boy can kiss.

I gasped as he nipped the soft flesh at the base of my throat with his teeth then soothed it with his tongue. As he pulled away I felt the loss immediately. I ground my hips into him, desperate for contact and friction. His lips crashed back onto mine and he groaned into my mouth. I pushed my tongue back into his mouth and he responded immediately.

He was back at my neck alternating between nibbling and sucking, I couldn't stop a moan escaping from my parted lips. This seemed to spur him on and he pulled me closer rubbing his hard cock against me.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He felt huge - and I loved it.

###

**EDWARD**

Holy fuck. Bella was rubbing against me and it felt so fucking good. I could feel myself getting harder as she pusher her small body against me. She fit perfectly in my arms, her skin was so soft under my hands and her smell was swirling up around me, making me dizzy.

I felt her hand slide under the back of my shirt and very tentatively slide up and down my back. It was like she really wanted to let go but was having a hard time doing so. I decided to do all that I could to encourage her, 'cos I had a feeling she could be a real minx if she would only relax and stop fighting whatever it was that was holding her back.

She slid her hand down to the waistband of my trousers and paused for a second before sliding down further and cupping my ass, giving it a gentle squeeze. I don't know what happened inside me but that was all it took to tip me over the edge.

I devoured her mouth and let my hands roam all over her body while whispering in her ear.

"You are so beautiful, and I am so fucking lucky to be here with you tonight."

She broke off from our kiss and pulled back to look me in the eye. Her face and neck were all flushed and her pupils were huge and filled with lust. I swallowed back a moan. I could tell that she wanted me bad and the feeling was defiantly mutual. I was just about to suggest we head back to my room when she spoke in a small tentative voice.

"Edward, I really like you and would love nothing more than to go back to your room, but…" she wavered.

Oh shit, I thought, all these horrible scenarios running through my head. She has a boyfriend, she just wants to be friends, she really likes Emmett and was just using me to get to him… believe me it had happened before.

She was looking at the sand and shuffling her feet nervously. Time ticked on and while we could have been only standing there for a few seconds it felt like hours. I could hear the blood whooshing in my ears as I focused on the circle she was drawing in the sand with her perfect toes.

She glanced up shyly at me from under her lashes and it hit me like a thump to the chest. I didn't just want a one night stand with this girl, I wanted more, a lot more. I had only known her a matter of hours - this was crazy.

I glanced at her again, "what is it, Bella?" I prompted gently. "Whatever it is, you can tell me".

She looked up at me, still hesitant. "I really like you," she repeated quietly, "and I do want to sleep with you, but just not yet", she finished in an almost whisper. Her head lowered again, that curtain of silky hair trying to hide the glorious blush that was creeping back up her neck and face.

I let out the breath that I didn't realise I had been holding and gave a little chuckle. I put my fingers under her chin and tilted her head up to look at me again.

"As much as I would love to take you up to my room and ravish you all night, I can wait until you're ready" I said in a husky whisper that didn't sound like my own.

I leant down and ran small kisses up and down the length of her jaw, one hand sliding into her hair to tilt her head for better access, and the other snaking around her waist to pull her back flush against me. I heard her sharp intake of breath as I nipped her earlobe then whispered to her.

"I'm pretty sure that it is going to be fantastic, and well worth the wait. You just say the word and I'm there gorgeous."

She shivered. "Are you cold?" I asked, already shrugging out of my jacket. My mother had raised me well.

Her jacket looked nice but was not very effective against the cool breeze that had picked up since we left the hotel and was now blowing off the water.

"Thank you" she said shyly, as I draped my jacket around her shoulders and freed her hair out of the collar. I took any excuse I could to touch her. She sighed and snuggled into my chest, sliding her arms around my waist and nudging my arms upward. It took me a minute to realise that she wanted me to wrap my arms around her. I gladly complied.

I needed no further encouragement to resume kissing her, sweet gentle kisses rather than the feverish kisses from earlier. I could feel her smile playing against my lips and I couldn't help smiling also. I felt so amazing. While I had been looking forward to a night between the sheets with Sexy Mouth, I was also more than happy to be chastely cuddling with Bella on the beach.

"We should probably head back to the hotel" she said reluctantly, and I nodded my agreement as we turned to walk back the way we had come.

The wind blew again and she snuggled further into my jacket. I draped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into my side, she fit perfectly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her dip her head and take a long sniff of the collar of my jacket. A dreamy little smile came across her face as she closed her eyes for a second. I couldn't stop a big, cheesy, shit-eating grin from crossing my own face and I gathered her in closer to my side as another gust of wind rolled off the water.

The small things she was doing were affecting me a big way, just the way she smelled my jacket had stirred up the lustful feelings. I was just about to gather her up in my arms for another scorching kiss when we heard whooping from down the beach.

"Go Jasper, go! We're almost there!" Alice screamed.

"Come on big guy, you can take him" we heard Rose yell, followed by the sound of slapping and laughter.

As they came into view we let out a laugh of our own. Emmett and Jasper were tearing towards us up the beach with the girls on their backs shouting loudly and slapping their asses in encouragement.

Emmett and Rose were a little behind Jasper and Alice, but they were gaining. I knew Jasper's dirty tactics must have been out in play earlier in the race, as Em can usually bet him no problem.

Deciding to try and even it up, I ran towards them hoping to help when Bella yelled out. "Give him some incentive to win Rose!"

Rose leaned down and whispered something in Emmett's ear. It must have been good, 'cos it brought on the spurt of speed that they needed to reach where Bella was standing first, and win.

Jasper and Alice followed just behind them, Alice rewarding Rose with a dainty high five.

"I don't know what she said to you, bro" I said as Rose turned bright red, "and from the look of that blush we probably don't want to know, but it did the trick". We all laughed and Rose hid her face in Emmett's neck.

I saw Alice shoot a questioning look at Bella as I noticed her shiver again and pull my jacket closer around her. I moved back to her side, drew her in close and put my arm back around her.

"You guys ready to head back to the hotel?" I asked, looking around the group. "The wind is really picking up now and Bella is getting a little cold." Right on cue, another wind gust blew and Bella shivered again, I absently rubbed up and down her arm. More unreadable looks passed between the girls who were still up on the boys' backs.

Something must have been decided between the girls with that silent conversation because Alice spurred Jazz into life with an ass slap, a point in the direction of the hotel and a squeal of delight as he started to run.

Rose slapped Em's butt, "Well stud, what are you waiting for? an engraved invitation?" She squealed as Emmett took off at a sprint, she twisted and yelled over her shoulder, "Come on, Bella, it's so much fun".

She looked hesitantly at me and with a grin I slung her onto my back and ran.

###

A/N - Thanks for reading. Remember, reviews are better than a piggyback ride from Edward.

See you next week.

Jul xxx


	8. Chapter 8 Breakfasting

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

I realise that hotel room numbers usually correspond to floor numbers, but please just go with me here.

And as always, I_heart_Fifty, big love to you xxx **[aww shucks, love you too honey!]**

###

**BELLA**

I clung to Edward's back as he ran towards the hotel, the others laughing as the wind whipped my hair around his face and his delicious scent swirled around me. Fuck me, his scent was intoxicating. I buried my face in his neck, inhaling deeply. I was rewarded with that sexy Edward smell, I then sucked gently on the skin just under his ear and felt his hands tighten their grip on my thighs in response.

Feeling empowered, I stretched up a little and drew his earlobe into my mouth. I swirled my tongue over his lobe and bit gently. He stumbled a bit on the sand like he had momentarily lost his footing, gripping my thighs tighter and pulling me closer to him in the process. As he regained his footing on the uneven sand he turned his head slightly and shot me a sexy grin.

"You alright, beautiful? I was just a little distracted there for a minute." I blushed when I realised that I was the cause of that distraction, he winked in response.

We reached where they others were standing, the girls now dismounted and standing beside their guys, all of their faces flushed red from excitement and exertion. After I reluctantly climbed down from Edward's back we all stood there, not really sure what was going to happen next.

As usual Rose took charge. "Thanks for the great night, guys. Would you like to walk us to our suite?" She asked the group in general but only had eyes for Emmett.

"That would be great" he answered quickly, before anyone else had a chance to open their mouth.

We made our way to the elevators and all squeezed in.

"Which floor?" Edward asked me politely, his finger poised over the buttons.

"Top floor, please" I replied equally as politely, almost strained. I had felt so comfortable with him earlier, before I told him I wouldn't sleep with him. It's funny how sex complicates things, even when you aren't having it. I wondered if Edward had thought I was weird for blurting out that I wouldn't sleep with him tonight. I wondered if I should have just let things progress and see where they went. I wondered if I was wondering too much and if I should probably just stop and relax a little..

At hearing which floor we were on, Edward looked at me in surprise, a grin spreading across his gorgeous features. "We're on the top floor too. What number?" Jasper asked, breaking off from his and Alice's conversation.

"302" I replied.

All the boys burst out laughing.

I looked at Alice and Rosalie blankly, there was nothing remotely funny about what I had just said.

"What's so funny?" Alice trilled, her hands on her hips.

"We are in 203" Jasper replied. We all looked at each other realisation dawning. That was how the bag mix up had happened.

Edward leaned in close to me. "I'm glad the floozy at the front desk can't write, otherwise we might not have met." He breathed into my ear, his sexy scent wafting around me.

It sent shivers down my spine, it was ridiculous the effect this boy had on me. I closed my eyes and savoured him being close to me, feeling the heat radiating off his body as I tried inconspicuously to inhale his scent that clung to his jacket and surrounded me. Fuck, I was floating in sensory overload heaven.

My thoughts were interrupted with the opening of the elevator doors and I found Edward's hand at the small of my back, guiding me out and up the corridor towards our room.

Alice unlocked the door and we walked through the door into the foyer of our suite. We all stared out at the trio of men, no one speaking, and no one wanting the night to end.

Jasper eventually spoke, looking at Alice but addressing us all. "There's a hotel beach party tomorrow afternoon. Would you ladies care to join us?

Alice turned ever so slightly to look at Rose and I. Rose gave her a wink and I nodded in agreement. Any activity that had me spending more time with Edward was alright by me.

"We would love to" she gushed.

"Meet you down in the lobby at 2pm?" Jasper asked, as he leaned in to give Alice a chaste kiss on the cheek. She nodded and blushed, very obviously smitten with Jasper.

"I will hold you to your promise" Emmett said, looking at Rosalie meaningfully. She stood there for a minute taking in what he had said before reaching out the door, grabbing the front of his shirt, and planting a wet smacking kiss on his lips. She whispered something we couldn't hear in his ear before pulling away.

Emmett stood there, a little dazed, rooted to the spot with a huge grin plastered to his face, her whisper must have had the desired effect.

"Goodnight Romeo" she said sweetly as she pushed him out the door, a smug grin plastered across her face.

Jasper laughed as Emmett regained his composure and turned to leave.

"Coming bro?" Emmett asked Edward with a semi-dazed look still on his face. Edward looked at me for a second before replying.

"I'll catch you up in a bit."

"'Kay bro, don't be too long. The girls need their beauty sleep so they can look hot for us tomorrow" he chuckled, looking at Rose and giving her a quick wink, seemingly recovered from whatever quip Rose had thrown at him earlier.

With one last wink and a smile, Emmett and Jasper disappeared down the hallway towards their suite leaving Edward standing at our door.

The girls giggled and out of the corner of my eye I saw Alice dragging Rose into the other room, effectively leaving Edward and I alone in the doorway. I suddenly felt shy and desperately wanted to drop my gaze but I also wanted to drink in the dark green pools of Edward's eyes. I wanted to show him how confident I was, well, at least how confident I was pretending to be. He really did have the most gorgeous eyes and I found that I could not tear myself away even if I had wanted to, even just for a second.

Edward must have been feeling the same as he held my gaze as he leaned in closer to me, cupped his hand around my cheek and stroked my face with the pad of his thumb while he spoke.

"I had a really great time tonight." His voice was deep and husky. "I'd really like to spend more time with you." His voice wrapped around me like velvet and flowed over me like honey, sending tingles between my thighs.

My heart skipped a beat and I felt light headed.

"Me too" I said, in a tone of voice I didn't recognise as my own as I raised my hand to cover his and bring it to my waist. I stretched up onto my toes and brought my lips to his for a goodnight kiss.

I tried to keep it sweet, knowing if I didn't I would be dragging him inside to my bed in the blink of an eye. He must have known my intent as kissed me back briefly then broke away.

"See you tomorrow at the beach party, beautiful" he said, and with one last kiss on my cheek he was gone.

I stood in the doorway for a minute my hand pressed to my cheek, my eyes closed, replaying that last sweet kiss over and over in my mind. I felt like I was 12 again having my first kiss with Mike Newton behind the gym at recess, all giddy and breathless - the one difference being that this was a million times better.

I shut the door and walked into the suite, with the dazed look still on my face my fingers still pressed to my cheek. As soon as I entered the living room Alice sprang up from her seat, grabbed my hand, dragged me back to the couch and gestured for me to sit. She bounced up and down beside me as I sank into the couch between her and Rose, letting the cool cream leather envelope me. I sat there quietly for a minute or two letting the feelings of the night just wash over me.

I could feel Alice vibrating with excitement beside me and knew that she was not going to be able to hold it in for a much longer.

"Come on Bella," she squealed, "don't leave us hanging any longer! Please please please tell us exactly what happened. And don't leave anything out!"

###

**EDWARD**

As I walked back down the hallway away from Bella's suite and towards my own, I raised my hand to my lips where she had given me the sweetest kiss. I knew that she had meant the kiss to be chaste but I had to use all of my self-control not to push her against the door and ravish her.

I touched my cheek again feeling like a bit of a wimp for getting all mushy over some kissing, but I couldn't stop grinning. In my defence those kisses had been mind blowing, especially the last one. I continued down the hallway my mind ticking over what had transpired on the beach. Of course I was hoping for a bit of action tonight, I was a guy and no guy in his right mind turns down sex - but I was not worried that things had stayed PG.

I'll admit I was a little taken aback that Bella had been so upfront about her intentions (or rather lack of intentions) but it was kinda refreshing to know where I stood. There's nothing worse than thinking you're getting lucky, and when you are just about to seal the deal having it all fall though. Being the gentleman that I was I always respected a girl's decision - but it didn't mean that I wasn't disappointed.

I thought that since she had been honest with me that I would be honest in return. I meant it when I said that while I would have loved nothing more than to take her upstairs and ravish her. I was also happy to wait until she was ready.

Waiting would just mean a bit more time to build up to the main event. Like extended foreplay. I sighed and ran my fingers though my hair I was hoping she wasn't going to make me wait too long, she had a profound effect on me and my cock and I didn't think the poor guy could take much more.

When I arrived back at the suite the guys were watching sport on TV and drinking beers from the mini bar.

"So, did you score?" Emmett asked in a conversational tone, not taking his eyes off the TV. What did he take me for? If I had scored I sure as shit would not be standing in my own suite right now, I would be tangled in the sheets of Bella's bed. I got hard at the thought. Fuck me.

When I didn't answer, he turned to look at me and asked again.

"Bro, did you score?"

Jasper, who unlike Em, didn't have the emotions of a wet fish stepped in.

"Dude, I think he likes her."

"Yeah, I know he likes her. What I want to know is, did he score?" he said slowly, like we were the stupid ones.

Jasper and I looked at each other and he just shook his head slowly.

"Night, guys" I said and headed to my room. I could hear them talking as I walked away.

"What's up with him? I just wanted to know if he got lucky" I heard Emmett protest.

I lay down on my bed and was assaulted by the smell of Bella. It must be from when I was carrying her along the beach. I could feel my cock stirring in my pants again. Fuck, this girl was turning me back into a teenager giving me erections left right and centre for no apparent reason. Get a grip, I told myself sternly. It's just a smell - a fucking fantastic smell - but just a smell.

I sat up to strip off to get ready to sleep. I then realised that I had left my jacket with Bella, and went to sleep with a smile on my face that at least one part of me would be close to her tonight.

I woke up feeling happy in more ways than one. I had had a very graphic and exciting dream where I was swimming in the ocean with Bella. She wore a tiny blue bikini and her skin was creamy white and smooth under my hands. We were kissing and fooling around in the water when she suddenly pulled away from me, ducked under the water and disappeared. As I was frantically searching for her, she swam undetected up to me under the water and gave me the best blowjob of my life. 

I groaned and rolled over, fuck I had it bad. I also had a raging erection that I knew was not going to disappear without a little help.

I reached my hand under the sheet and stroked myself absent-mindedly, all the while thinking about Bella in that blue bikini and that fucking sexy mouth. Before things got too out of hand and messy I hopped into the shower, lathered up my hand and tried to relive that dream one stroke at a time.

The images I had streaming through my mind were so vivid my other hand shot out to steady me on the shower wall. My head tipped back and an unexpected low growl came out of my mouth as the image of Bella underwater, her hair swirling around her face while furiously sucking my cock pushed me over the edge. What an amazing way to start the day. I finished the rest of my shower with a smile on my face.

Twenty minutes later I was showered and dressed. I walked out of my room to find Emmett crashed out on the recliner where I had left him last night, and Jazz showered and relaxing on the couch quietly strumming his guitar.

"Morning dude" he said, as he stopped strumming. "You ready for food? I'm fucking starving." I was pretty hungry too after my mornings strenuous shower activities. I felt myself grin, thinking about seeing Bella soon.

At the mention of food, Em opened his eyes and registered that we were both showered and ready.

"Give me five minutes" he croaked. "Coffee, I need coffee!" he muttered, as he dragged himself off the recliner and toward his unused room.

"Should I call Carlisle and tell him that he didn't need to bother with the suite?" I asked.

He spun around. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Well, you did spend the night on the couch…" I trailed off.

"Wanker" he muttered under his breath, disappearing into the bathroom.

True to his word, five minutes later Em reappeared in clean clothes and we headed down to breakfast. As we were seated on the patio and went to get our food from the two heavily laden buffet tables, I kept looking around the room hoping to catch a glimpse of the girls.

Well, one girl in particular. Every brunette caused me to turn my head just hoping to catch a glimpse of Bella. Every time it wasn't her, and I could feel myself getting more and more despondent with each unfamiliar face. Even after I had given myself a stern talking to and decided to stop consciously searching I still found myself absently scanning the restaurant, permanently on high alert.

"Don't bother looking for her," Jasper said dryly after noticing what I was doing, "and don't bother trying to deny it either. I totally saw you scoping the room" he accused.

"I wasn't…" I started to say, then just grinned sheepishly. He knew me too well to lie convincingly.

"Why should I not bother looking?" I hoped he was about to tell me than any second that the girls would be joining us for breakfast.

"Alice said last night that they had a spa day booked today, and that they were having breakfast after they had a cucumber and honey wrap thing, something to do with toxin flushing or some shit" he trailed off, the embarrassment evident in his voice. I was glad for him that Emmett wasn't in earshot.

It was also then that I realised that Jasper was just as much into Alice as I was into Bella. The only difference was that he appeared to be hiding it better than I was.

"Cucumber and honey, huh?" I asked him, my eyebrows raised. He had the good grace to look a bit sheepish at being caught out.

"Does that take all morning?" I asked as I loaded my plate with food.

"No, they're having a half day thing with fingers, toes, massages and baths or something followed by lunch." I raised my brows at him again. He looked defensively at me.

"Alice was talking excitedly about it last night, her Mom booked it for the girls and it was supposed to be a secret. She said telling me would be the next best thing to telling no one." He chuckled, "To be honest, whenever she talks for too long without a break, I get a little hypnotised by the way her mouth moves and her boobs jiggle as her gestures get wilder," he sighed his eyes glazing over as he appeared to be picturing her mouth and breasts.

"Who's boobs are jiggling?" Emmett asked, joining us and trying to squeeze more food onto his already overloaded plate.

"Alice's, when she talks excitedly and has wild arm gestures" Jasper sighed again before snapping back to the present.

"Fuck Em, just get another plate!" he laughed as he spotted Emmett's severely overloaded plate. Emmett snagged another plate off the stack.

"You know who has great boobs?" he asks. "Rose, hers are hot and I'm ninety nine per cent sure that they are real, can't wait to meet them in the flesh - so to speak" he waggles his brows at us.

As we walked back to the table, Emmett with his two heaped plates of food, Jasper turned slightly towards me.

"Do you know the difference between us and him?" he asked his voice low so to not be overheard by Emmett.

"Other than about 5 servings of breakfast?" I replied, laughing.

"Well, that and the fact that we both know our girls are going to be something special that change our lives. He, on the other hand, is going to be blindsided by that fact in about a week. The only thing that's not different is that we are all scared shitless about it."

I stopped in my tracks and processed what Jasper had just said. He was usually very good at reading situations and I knew that what he said was probably going to end up being right. I wove through the tables and took my seat across from the others. I began to eat my breakfast, still mulling over his words.

I looked at him sharing a joke laugh with Emmett and realised with a jolt that he was right. About Emmett, about Bella and especially about me being scared shitless.

###

**A/N – [****Ok so it's actually Fic Bitch's note, ooh the power!] kidding Jul, calm down…**

**Yeah, so, reviews are better than jiggling your boobs at Jasper and hypnotising him. Go on, you know you want to...**


	9. Chapter 9 Pampering

**D****isclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

Sadly I have not actually been to the Bahamas so the following is a mix of Google research (I LOVE Google) and a combo of all the cool activities I have done on my own holidays.

The hotel is fictional but is loosely based on images I Googled and is a combo of The Cove Atlantis and Bimini Bay Resort & Marina, both of which look amazing.

Mwah Mwah to my fab Fic-Bitch I_Heart_Fifty who continually fixes my atrocious spelling and brings me Subway at work when I do an unexpected night shift. **[Right back at ya, babe. Just wait till I have my say in the A/N at the bottom. Also, sorry this is a little late everyone! My bad!]**

###

**BELLA**

We sat up talking and dissecting the evening for the best part of an hour. We all thought our respective guys were gorgeous and agreed that the suitcase switch couldn't have worked out more perfectly. I sent up a small prayer for the ineptness of the desk bimbo.

I 'fessed up to my pouncing on Edward, and the girls squealed in delight that their pep talk and interference had worked. I also admitted that I had come clean about wanting to have sex - just not yet. Alice congratulated me on being honest from the get go, Rose thought I shouldn't have mentioned it and kept him hanging. Either way, I felt pretty good about it.

When we were all talked out, Alice stood up and gave a huge yawn. "Well girlies, I'm off to bed."

I reached my hand out to grasp hers and pulled her back down onto the couch. "I have something I want to say before we do" I said, as I reached over and took Rose's hand in my free one.

"I know I said a little of this in the bathroom earlier, but I just want to thank you both for all that you have done for me the last few months. I want to say thanks for the endless DVD and wine nights, for putting up with my moods and moping, for the covert shopping trips and especially for this vacation..." my voice broke a little as I tried – unsuccessfully - to hold back the tears.

Alice opened her mouth to speak, but I held up my hand and she closed it again.

"I know that I've been hard work over the last little while, and I can't thank you enough for looking out for me. I love you like my sisters and give thanks every day that I found you that summer."

My eyes welled up again and both girls launched themselves at me throwing their arms around my neck and embracing me fiercely.

"Bella, we feel exactly the same way" Alice said into my hair. "We're just glad that you were able to overcome the shit that James loaded onto you. In a way I'm glad that he did what he did."

I gave a little squeak at that comment but she ploughed on, "'Cause it made you come to terms with some shit that you otherwise might not have. Sure, you had a rough time initially, but look at how far you have come. Perhaps we should actually thank that rat bastard!" she giggled.

Rose spoke next. "I agree with Al, he may have been a fuckwit but he did kinda help you sort your shit out a little. Anyway, you know how much we love to shop, so getting a little extra for you was no hardship. I also loved those DVD and wine nights although if I have to sit through Teen Wolf again I might have to reconsider our friendship!" she joked.

Alice and I had a thing for classic 80's trash movies and had made Rose sit through Teen Wolf as well as the whole John Hughes catalogue.

"It was then I really knew how much you loved me Rose" I said cheekily.

"I would do it all again in a heartbeat, Bells." she said sincerely. "Trashy 80's movies aside I'm glad you have finally accepted that you are beautiful and amazing. What's on the inside is perfectly matched by what's on the outside. I know I speak for Alice too when I say we're also thankful that you can now see what we've always seen."

Rose paused and glanced at me slyly. "From the way Edward was looking at you like you were something to eat, it seems he agrees!" we all erupted into fits of giggles.

That night, as I slid in between the cool sheets, I was glad that I had the big talk with the girls. It had forced me take stock of my life and made me see what was really important: my family, my friends and - if I played my cards right - Edward. As I drifted off to sleep I had a buzz of excitement about tomorrow in my belly, a smile on my face, and (as much as I was ashamed to say) Edward's jacket on the pillow beside me.

I woke up slowly, for a second wondering why my face was covered as I breathed in the most delicious scent. I sat up and realised that I had Edward's jacket in my hand and had slept with it pressed up against my face.

A quick glance in the mirror revealed button marks across my cheek. I hoped that they would disappear while I was in the shower or the girls would never let me live it down. I reluctantly draped Edward's jacket over the arm of the chair as I headed to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, I emerged from my room with a button-free face to find the girls waiting for me.

"Bella, Bella! Guess what?" Alice asked before I could even open my mouth to greet them.

"Morning guys" I said, before turning to Alice. "What has you as excited as a bunny on crack this morning?"

She was so excited I could practically see her vibrating.

"I have a surprise for you!" she squealed, "Well, actually Esme has a surprise for all of us."

"She has been like this since we got up" Rose said, "but she made me wait 'til we were all together before spilling her secret."

Alice ignored her. "I'm glad you are up and ready cause our first appointment is soon and we can't be late!" she bounced.

"Appointment for what, exactly?" I asked cautiously. I had been the victim of Alice's surprises before, the most recent one being a Bikram yoga class in 105 degree heat that I was still recovering from.

"Esme has treated all three of us to a half-day spa, including breakfast, and a champagne lunch on the roof terrace! Prepare to be buffed and polished within an inch of your lives girls!" She skipped over to the foyer, her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Come on, grab your bags girls, we're off!"

Rose and I followed at a more sedate pace behind her. We took the elevator down to the lobby then a set of wide ornate stairs to the second floor spa reception. In the reception area there was the same floor to ceiling windows as in our suite which also looked out over the beach.

The roof terrace was to our left and the view was amazing. This relaxed me a bit 'cause even if the beauty treatments in store for us were tortuous, having lunch up here at the end would be worth it.

"Brandon party of three for the half day package" Alice announced us to the women behind the spa reception desk.

"Of course," she murmured "we've been expecting you." She rang a little bell and another woman appeared.

"If you will just follow me ladies, I can show you where to change."

Thirty minutes later we were wearing uber-plush bathrobes and relaxing in reclining chairs while rose petal scented water swirled around our feet and little jets of water gave our legs and feet the most amazing massage. This is the life, thank you Esme - I sighed, relaxing further back into my plush seat and taking a sip of my lemon and lime flavoured water.

We were interrupted by the beautician bringing us a plate of fresh fruit and gorgeous looking pastries for our breakfast along with juice and a huge silver coffee pot. Heaven.

"Now ladies," she said after we were all quietly eating our food, "have you given any thoughts to the colours for your nails?"

I picked up another piece of fruit and glanced at the others. We had been all given multiple cards with sample colours not long after we arrived and I was leaning towards a beige colour, nothing too flashy. I had kept my choice to myself about this as I knew the girls would try and talk me out of it and into something a little more exciting.

Alice spoke first. "I think I'm going to go with colours from the Alice in Wonderland collection, she held up the relevant card for us to inspect. 'Mad as a Hatter' on my toes and 'Absolutely Alice' on my fingers, pretty fitting I think!" she said looking smug.

"The 'Mad as a Hatter part is certainly true" Rose said, but not maliciously. Alice retaliated by flicking rose scented water at her.

"What are you going to go for?" she asked looking toward Rose.

"In keeping with the name theme I'm going with 'A Rose by Dawn-Broke my Noon' for my fingers and 'Ladies and Magenta-men' for my toes." She held out the appropriate card for us to admire the two shades of pink.

"Your turn, Bella" she said turning to look at me.

"I was going to go with 'Sweetheart' for all of them" I finished lamely. Alice grabbed her colour chart and flicked through, looking for 'Sweetheart'. I turned to Rose for support and realised she was doing the same.

"Here it is in the 'Nudes and Naturals' section," Alice said in outrage, a pout forming instantly at her lips.

"How can you expect to be a wild woman with a nail polish from the 'Nude and Natural' section?" she said in outrage.

"You go on about how you want a bit of excitement in your life this vacation, and I'm pretty sure you can't do that with a colour called 'Sweetheart!' Rose and I will pick for you" she said. I could see Rose nodding in agreement and realised I was fighting a losing battle.

I started to give half-hearted protest but Rose interjected, waving her hand in my face in a very 'Ricki Lake talk to the hand' type gesture.

"Don't even bother Bells, you know that you can't win. Just sit back and relax and let us vamp you up a bit." She turned to Alice, "I get the fingers, you get the toes" she said, and they both went back to flipping through the colour charts. I sighed again and sank back into the chair, ready for a long wait as they plotted quietly between themselves - flipping furiously back and forth between colours and having a low murmured conversation. I decided they were right and if I had any hope of my outsides matching my insides then I sorely needed their help.

After a few antagonising minutes, Rose spoke.

"I know you won't be comfortable with a bright colour on your fingers, plus a lighter colour is easier to maintain. So, I have compromised with 'Bronzed to Perfection'. It was the closest I could find to Bronze God!" she giggled as she held the colour chart out for my approval.

I had to admit it wasn't as bad as I had been anticipating, a rather nice shade of brown actually. I internally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Perfect!" Alice trilled. "And now for something bright and sexy for your toes." She flicked between two colours. "I just can't decide," she flicked backwards and forwards again and again before holding them both out for us to inspect. Both were shades of pink, one a little more neon than the other but still nice. Alice started to giggle.

The question on everybody's lips, Bella, is do you want to be 'Charged Up Cherry' or are you 'Feeling Hot-Hot-Hot'?"

###

**EDWARD**

We decided since we would be spending the afternoon at the beach that we would do other stuff that morning. Over breakfast, we tried to formulate a plan which I knew would be no easy feat as Emmett had the attention span of a toddler.

"We could kayak" Emmett suggested. "I saw they had some near the place where that hot chick was handing out towels yesterday."

"I'm not really in the mood" Jasper said. Thank God, I thought. I wasn't either.

"What about heading into town to look around?" Emmett tried again.

Jasper and I looked at each other. "Nah mate, maybe another day" I said. Jasper look relieved. I knew from the look on his face that he was pining for the girls as much as I was. I glanced at my watch and groaned when I realised that I still had 5 hours to wait before seeing Bella again.

"I looked in the book thing, and they hire out scooters and beach buggies not far from here," Emmett continued. "Maybe we could do that."

"What book thing?" I asked.

"You know, that book they have in the room with all the activities and shit in it" he said. "I looked through last night; we can also hire a catamaran, go spear fishing or snorkelling, get a boat and feed the fish on the other side of the reef, take a cultural tour around the island in a jeep or hike to the waterfalls" he said as he ticked things off on his fingers. "And that's only the cool stuff in there."

Jasper and I looked at him in awe. Emmett was not one for planning, he was more of a 'go with the flow' kinda guy and tended to fit in with whatever was going on. This thing with Rose must have thrown him into a bit of a tailspin.

"They all sound great dude," I said. "But I'm pretty sure that you have to book most of that stuff in advance." I also was hoping that Bella and the girls would want to do some of that stuff with us, not that I would mention that just yet.

I realised then that Bella had severely disrupted my life. Pre-Bella, I would have looked at it as a challenge to try and get onto one of the tour groups at short notice. I previously would have been down at the front desk using all of the Cullen charm and flirting shamelessly to get what I wanted. Bloody hell, my life was being ruled by my cock.

"We should definitely book something in for tomorrow, though" I added, "maybe the fish feeding on the other side of the reef?" Then I could see Bella in a bikini, I hope that she has a blue one just like the Bella in my dream. Fuck, I was getting hard at the thought. I discretely reached down to adjust myself as Em spoke again.

"Well, what do you want do then?" he asked sounding a little annoyed and pissed that we couldn't do any of his suggestions.

"Well, there's a huge TV in our suite" I suggested hopefully, "you keen for a morning of Xbox?" I couldn't believe that on the first full day of being in paradise I had actually suggested a morning of gaming. Inside.

Emmett had a bit of a thing about Xbox, we all did. I knew it would stop him from sulking about the missed activities. I also hoped that it would stop me from counting the hours til seeing Bella again.

He looked at me and stood up. "What are we waiting for then? Let's jet."

We headed back to the suite, flopped on the recliners and watched Emmett play. Jasper and I would usually have been right in there but I couldn't concentrate and my mind kept wandering. Wandering to thoughts of Bella. Bella's face, Bella's smell, her smile and that fucking gorgeous sexy mouth and all the things that I hoped it would do to me. Roll on 2 o'clock, I thought.

The time between breakfast and 2pm seemed to take forever. I initially thought it was just me who was counting the minutes until I saw Jasper look at his watch three times in the space of about 30 seconds.

At one o'clock I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up. "I'm going to change then head downstairs and see what's going on," I announced.

"They won't be there yet" Emmett said dryly not stopping what he was doing or even averting his eyes from the massive screen. I open my mouth to say something but he kept on talking. "I know they were on time last night but you are a whole hour early. The Cullen charm is good, but it's not that good. No girl is that keen, not even Sexy Mouth" he said, reluctantly pulling his eyes away to look and me and smirking.

I looked at Jasper wondering what his take on this was. He stood up too.

"I'm with Edward, bro" he said, "sorry". We both turned and headed to our rooms while Emmett shouted at us from the couch and waved the Xbox hand controller.

"You two are so fucking whipped it's not funny, you haven't even got them into bed yet!" He was still yelling smack talk as I shut my door.

I flipped open my suitcase and looked through what was in there. The next thing that passed through my mind made me slightly sick. What was I going to wear? I almost bitch-slapped myself. When had I turned into such a chick?

My thoughts were interrupted by Jasper bursting into my room slamming the door and turning to rest his back against it.

"Dude, I need your help" he said, a worried look on his pale face.

"What's wrong?" I asked immediately thinking from his pale sweaty appearance that he might be sick.

He paused for a second and took a deep breath. "Firstly, you must never - I repeat - never tell Emmett about this," he paused and looked at me for some sort of confirmation, I quickly nodded, eager to hear what he had to say.

"Secondly, I want Alice to want me, really want me tonight - if you know what I mean," he looked to me and I nodded again, "and thirdly," he stopped and took a steadying breath as his voice faltered a little, "I know it has only been one day but I think I fucking love her."

He stood there silently waiting for me to say something looking like he was too afraid to breathe. I looked at him slightly in awe of what he had just said and how it pretty much summed up exactly what I was feeling that very minute. The difference between us was that he had big enough balls to actually say how he felt about Alice. Out loud.

"So what did you want help with?" I asked wishing I could be as brave as he was, even admitting it to myself would have been a big step. I looked back to Jasper, "You seem to have it all under control." He let out the breath that he had been holding, took another shaky breath and brought his trembling hands out from behind his back and stood there with a kind of sheepish look on his face.

"Which shirt should I wear?"

###

A/N - For those of you who don't know (or are too young) Teen Wolf is a trashy 80's classic movie about a high school student (Michael J Fox) who turns into a werewolf, becomes awesome at basketball and ends up with the girl. Now, let's get this straight - it's not in the same league as a Molly Ringwald/John Hughes movie but it's still pretty good.

Please also let the records show that while I like Teen Wolf, I am 100% Team Edward. Teen Wolf was on TV while I was writing, hence it made it into this chapter. Remember: 100% Team Edward.

All nail polish colours are OPI. I loves me some OPI. I have about 15 in the door of my fridge taking up valuable food space that The Husband complains about. Regularly. My fave colour is a fab red called 'I'm not really a waitress'. What's yours?

Reviews are better than sleeping with Edwards's jacket.

See you next week. Jul xx

**[Fic-Bitch note: Here comes a shameless plug.. bear with me! So, I started a little blog this week, TwiKiwi. After you're done reviewing this chap, feel free to pop over, make yourself at home: ****www[dot]twikiwi[dot]blogspot[dot]com****. I'd love to see you there. You can also follow me on Twitter where I constantly plug this story: I_heart_Fifty. Thanks!]**


	10. Chapter 10  Ogling

**D****isclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

This chapter is a little shorter than normal but it's been a rough week in RL. I'm making up for it by posting two days early

Long A/N at the bottom.

###

**BELLA**

At 1.55pm we were standing in the foyer of our suite - buffed, polished and moisturised to within an inch of our lives, just as Alice had predicted. After the mani-pedis, we had had a cucumber and honey wrap, a frangipani sugar scrub, and a vanilla bean massage - finishing with a soak in the flower petal tub in the rainforest room. It had been absolutely fantastic, I felt relaxed and beautiful, a very good combination.

"I smell good enough to eat" I said as Rose was doing the final fussing with my hair.

"Let's hope Edward thinks so, too" Alice giggled, touching up her lipstick.

She stood back and took a look at me. "That man has to be either mad or blind to resist you today, girl." I opened my mouth to say something but Alice held up her hand to stop me.

"I know you didn't want to tumble right into bed, but it doesn't mean you can't have fun in other ways," her eyes sparkled mischievously. And really would tumbling right into bed be a bad thing? You know that old saying the best way to get over one guy is to get under another she winked.

Rose glanced at her watch. "Nicely said Alice, now come on girlies, let's get this party started. Bella, your mantra if you please?" She asked as we headed to the elevators. I took a deep breath and tried to ooze confidence. "I am a strong, sexy desirable woman and I deserve to be happy and loved." Rose looked at me with respect.

"Nice one girl, it actually sounded like you meant it." The funny thing was that I was pretty sure I actually did. The elevator arrived in the lobby and the doors slid open. Rose looked at Alice and me: "Now, let's go make it happen."

We headed into the lobby and were met with throngs of people. The party was just starting and we could see hotel staff in brightly coloured floral shirts, directing people toward the three white tents that were a little further down the beach.

"Can you see them anywhere?" I asked. Rose (who was taller than Alice or I) pointed. "Over there, by those potted palms" she said.

We threaded our way through the crowd in the direction Rose had pointed. As the throngs of people thinned out I saw them. They were turned slightly away from us and from the way they continued to talk they had yet to spot us. I took the opportunity to look at him greedily, without the flustered feeling I seemed to get whenever he looked at me. I stopped and drank in the view, sensing that the girls had stopped with me. We stood there and looked.

"Fuck me running, I think I might faint" I whispered. "Well, maybe not faint - but at least swoon."

"I hear you girlfriend" Alice murmured.

Edward was beside the palm, his arms crossed, leaning his shoulder against the wall. He was wearing a shirt almost exactly the same colour as his eyes, long stone-coloured cargo shorts and brown leather sandals. My gaze swept back up him admiring the way his crossed arms pulled the shirt tight across his biceps and shoulders.

He had rolled his sleeves up and I could see the light sprinkling of hair on his forearms, and those sexy wrists. I can honestly say I have never had a thing for wrists before, but on this man I just couldn't get enough. I wanted to lick them.

I could see the slight curve of his ass from where we were standing and I remembered the way my hand had moulded around it last night When I arrived back at his face I felt my heart skip a beat, that bronze hair was in its usual disarray and I had to physically restrain myself from skipping over there and running my fingers through it. I had to physically move my hands behind my back to keep them still.

Next, I focused on his mouth remembering how it had captured mine last night and how he had kissed and sucked his way down my neck. I let out a small sigh, bloody hell - that boy was sex on legs. I raised my hand to my lips as I remembered how his kisses had made them feel. I wanted that feeling again, I had to have that feeling again. I wondered if it would be too weird if I greeted him with a kiss?

I was jostled out of my perv-fest by Alice's elbow making contact with my ribs.

"Daniel on a dumpling" she hissed as she held her fists out for a bump. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and gave her the props she deserved.

"Fuck! they look hot, and perfect, also hot but… wow." she whispered, in a slight daze.

I reluctantly tore my gaze from Edward to look at the other two. Emmett was looking like a Calvin Klein model, half sitting on the huge pot that housed the palm. His arms were stretched up and interlocked behind his head, his feet - crossed at the ankles - stretched out in front of him. His shirt, which was not fastened on the bottom two buttons, was hiked up enough to show a set of washboard abs with a sprinkling of hair disappearing into the waistband of his shorts.

His shirt was stretch tight across his bulging biceps and obviously sculpted torso as his muscles flexed with each movement. It was hot, but it was Edward who made my heart skip a beat and made my mouth dry. Rose is a goner I thought, what was in front of me was just her type.

"Your man is working it, Rose" I said with a small glance in her direction.

"Shut up, he's not mine" she hissed, but when I looked at her I could tell she was smitten. She recovered her composure quickly.

"Well, not yet anyway" she smirked.

I looked at Jasper, and my mouth dropped. Alice regularly described her perfect man to us, and I was looking at him. Natural-coloured linen shorts, white shirt with stripes of the same natural colour running through it, necklace of small wooden beads and the clincher of the guitar slung over his shoulder.

Alice loved that earthen look in her men, natural and soft, but without the added extra of bad hygiene, lack of style or colour co-ordination. She also adored men who played an instrument, she claimed they had fantastically nimble fingers.

"Alice" I breathed, "Jasper is your perfect man." She turned to look at me and grasped my hands tightly on her own.

"I know" she whispered," I thought he was great last night and was destined to be something special, but…" she paused and reached over to grasp Rose's hand,"…he is perfect" she breathed. She gave herself a little shake then looked solemnly at us, taking a second to look each of us directly in the eyes.

"Girls, I need to know how you feel about fuchsia." Rose and I looked at each other, blank looks on our faces. It was a bit of a strange time for Alice's fashion expertise to be coming out.

"For what, sweetie?" Rose asked gently, in a tone more suited to talking to a small frightened child.

"For the bridesmaid's dresses of course," she said calmly, "'cause if I have it my way, which you know I always do, I'm going to marry that man."

We were interrupted by Emmett's big booming voice carrying the last few metres to where we stood.

"Hey, hot blonde," he was looking at Rose, "we're over here."

###

**EDWARD**

I turned in the direction Emmett was looking, and caught sight of the girls standing there. Alice was holding Bella and Roses' hands deep in conversation. My memory of Bella did her no justice.

I started at her feet and worked my way up, flat sandals (perfect for the beach) with toes, very sexy toes painted in a bright pink colour, her legs appeared endless as I travelled up their length towards a small pair of shorts. I swallowed with difficulty, my mouth going dry at the sight. She had absolutely superb legs.

She had a floaty top with sleeves that showed off her delicate wrists and collar bones. The top had sparkles that glinted in the sun, making her appear to be covered in diamonds. Her long mahogany hair was up in a high ponytail showing off her long, lickable neck, I swallowed again.

My eyes finally came to rest on her face. I was glad that she was still deep in conversation and I was able to watch her undetected. Her skin looked flawless and while I could tell she had makeup on, it appeared to be subtle and enhanced - rather than covered up - her beauty. I came to rest on her mouth, that gorgeous sexy mouth. Full and luscious, and coated in a shiny layer of dark pink that I wanted to stride over and kiss off.

Fuck, she was an angel and I was in heaven.

My mind was beginning to wander, thinking of all the things that I would do to her when they started to walk towards us. I stood up from where I had been leaning against the wall and discreetly tried to adjust my growing erection. Bloody hell, it was like being a teenager again where the mere thought of a girl would have you cumming in your pants.

The girls walked towards us, bringing with them a cloud of perfume that smelt faintly like honey and roses. I snuck a quick look at Jasper to see if he was being as affected as I was. He was standing there with his mouth slightly agape and his hand pressed to his chest as if he was trying to hold his heart, or at least stop it from jumping out of his chest. I nudged him. "Dude, get your shit together" I muttered under my breath.

He turned to look at me. "You know how before, I said I thought I loved her?" he asked quietly.

I nodded.

"Well, now I know I do." And with that he turned to look back at Alice as they approached.

"Hi guys" they said and greeted us with warm smiles. I nodded to the other girls and then focused my attention on Bella.

"Hey" she said shyly.

"Hey yourself," I said back to her, trying (not very successfully) to fight off a goofy grin. I reached for her hand, held it loosely in my own and linked our fingers.

Before I realised what was going on she rested her other hand on my chest, rose onto her toes and kissed me. I don't know what had happened in between last night and today, but where had all this confidence come from? Not that I was in any way complaining. I kissed her back, taking care to keep it PG, we were in the lobby in the middle of the day after all.

She pulled back a few glorious seconds later and whispered to me. "I've been thinking about doing that all day."

"Uh, me too" I whispered back, bringing a huge smile to her face. She turned a little to stand beside me, keeping my hand in hers. I stood there, still a little stunned, and wondered if the other guys had been greeted as enthusiastically as I was.

"Hey Edward, I don't think Berry Blush is really your colour!" Alice said with a wink. I stared at her blankly, until Jasper cleared his throat and motioned to my top lip. I raised my hand and rubbed - coming away with a small smear of dark pink. A quick glance at Bella revealed still perfect lipstick, how in the hell did that happen?

"Oops!" Bella said with a small giggle, her hand coming up to my lip and getting the remainder of the smear, her fingers lingering longer than was strictly necessary.

"Totally worth it" I said quietly, my eyes never leaving hers.

"Did you girls have a good morning at the spa?" I spoke again this time, loudly enough for the others to hear but still looking at only Bella.

"It was fabulous!" Alice said, "the perfect girls' morning." She had her arm linked through Jasper's, her head resting on his shoulder. She looked very comfortable there and a quick look at him showed he felt the same.

"Come on guys and dolls" Emmett said, "let's get this party started." He grabbed Rose by the hand and gestured her in the direction of the tents further down the beach.

"Come on babe" he said to Rose, "I'm starving and that food smells amazing."

"Did you not have lunch?" Rose asked.

"Sure did, but I'm a growing boy and need constant sustenance" Emmett replied as we started to move through the lobby.

We headed towards the tents, Emmett and Rose in front, him filling her in on what he could see over the crowd. "The first tent has tables with a shitload of food" he said, "the second one has tables and a bar, and the one furthest along has a makeshift dancefloor and more chairs." He turned to look back at us.

"I say food, lots of drinks, possibly some more drinks and then, if Blondie plays her cards right, maybe some dancing."

"Ooh, dancing!" Alice squealed, "I love dancing!" she bounced up and down on the spot, clapping her hands.

"If dancing is what you want, then dancing you shall get" Jasper replied, thrusting his guitar at me. He grabbed her hand and practically skipped to the farthest tent.

"Save us some seats, we'll be back soon" he yelled back over his shoulder.

"Food and drinks then dancing sound OK to you?" I asked Bella. "Or did you want to join Alice and Jasper with dancing right now?" I prayed she said food first. I didn't hate dancing but I felt a lot more confident in my abilities once I had at least a couple beers in me.

"Food and drinks first please" she said, sounding almost grateful to be given the choice. "I love to dance, but love it a lot more when there are a few more people on the dance floor," She gestured to the dancefloor where Alice and Jasper and a handful of small children were the only ones on it.

I chuckled. "Food first it is" We followed Em and Rose to a table big enough for all of us.

"Perfect" Emmett announced as we sat down, halfway between the food and the bar. No sooner had we sat down than a waiter materialised out of thin air, flourishing menus and a pad and pen.

"What can I get you, ladies?" he asked the girls as he handed out drinks menus practically ignoring Emmett and I.

"You are up to the Delicious Hot Party Punch" he said, looking straight at Bella. "How very apt considering we are at a party", he swept his gaze up and down her body, leering at her.

What the fuck! He did not just say that and openly ogle my girl in front of me, did he? I could feel my blood boiling and wanted to stand up and beat him to a bloody pulp. When I looked at him again and that same lecherous look was still on his face I had to make a conscious effort to remain in my seat.

I have no claim on Bella, I reminded myself, so take a deep breath and calm the fuck down! Yes she did just plant one on you in the lobby but one kiss does not a relationship make. Maybe she wanted his attention. I looked at her; she was oblivious to what was going on, so not asking for his attention, but not rejecting it either.

She looked up at the slimy waiter and smiled that beautiful smile that hit me like a kick in the gut. I growled in the back of my throat as that dazzling smile encouraged the fucking waiter to move closer to my Bella and eye-fuck her cleavage." That's right" she said raising her head from the menu to look at the leech, "thank you for remembering. Three please" she said, looking at Rose, who nodded.

"Beer for me, mate" Emmett threw in, oblivious to what was happening. The waiter finally tore his eyes from Bella's cleavage. "And for you, Sir?" he asked me with that look in his eye that made me want to pulverise him.

"Beer would be great" I said through gritted teeth, "and one for our friend" I added as an afterthought.

"Coming right up" he said, and with one last lustful look at my Bella's body he turned and headed towards the bar. I gripped the sides of the chair and could feel the tension radiating up from my hands to the rest of me. It took every last ounce of strength in my body to not follow him into the crowd and violently wipe that smug look right off his fucking face.

###

A/N the lippy colour is from Avon just in case you want to channel your inner Bella.

Please review and let me know what you think – reviews are better than leaving a lippy smudge on Edward's cheek. Now, I don't want to sound ungrateful for all those that have reviewed (you know who you are, mwah mwah) but I am a little worried – read paranoid- that you aren't really that into me. Yep, I'm insecure what can I say?

As always my fab Fic-Bitch rocks, I know that she loves me just the way I am. She is my biggest cheerleader and #1 supporter. So go read her blog and share the love xxx

**[Awww shucks. Love and hugs babe! But yeah, she's right, hit up my blog! (please) www(dot)twikiwi(dot)blogspot(dot)com.]**

Please honestly tell me if I should keep going…See you next week, hopefully.

Jul xxx


	11. Chapter 11 Sulking

D**isclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

The drink featured in this chapter actually tastes really nasty (don't ever say I skimp on my research!) It's more of a Christmas mulled wine type of drink rather than a flirty vacation cocktail but the name fits in with the story, so just go with it, ok? But please don't try it at home as in this humble writer's opinion it tastes like crap. You have been warned!

As always I_heart_Fifty you rock my world. Even if Facebook deleted your profile for impersonating someone else. I am boycotting them in outrage on your behalf! **[Thanks babe!]**

IHF and I would like to welcome NegligentMummy into the world of fanfic. We are her enablers… and proud of it! You've inspired me to put some recs at the bottom of this chapter to help guide you through the maze that is FFn, Don't fight it – embrace it. You know you want to.

###

**BELLA**

As the waiter disappeared through the crowd, drink orders in hand, I turned and focused my attention back to Edward, ready in engage him in conversation and try my hand at flirting. Before I could speak I realised he was sitting stiffly in his chair, turned slightly away from me and giving off a very distinctly angry vibe.

For the love of all that was good and holy what had I done? I had somehow managed to fuck this up while ordering a drink. I knew that I'd been too cocky kissing him in the lobby. I'd smothered him with my eagerness with the kissing and the hand holding and the general Bella-ness of the situation. I needed help and I needed it quick. I needed my girls and their freaky silent conversation skills.

I looked across the table at Rose and tried to catch her eye. It took a few seconds until she looked up.

'Help!' I silently pleaded to her, 'something is wrong, very very wrong.'

'Shit, do you know what?' She answered back with her eyes.

'No,' I replied, desperately adding in a little shake of my head to emphasise the negative. I was starting to panic a little and my hands were starting to shake ever so slightly.

She turned to look at Edward then came back to me with an empty expression.

I was beginning to run all sorts of scenarios through my head. Had he now had a good chance to look at me and realised I was not for him? Did he already have a girl back home - and in the cold light of day realised he couldn't cheat on her?

He had taken a good look at Rose and was plotting how he was going to steal her from Emmett. It had happened before, after all. Did he think I was turning into a clinger on him? Again, I cursed myself for the lobby kiss. I was so sure that had been a good idea. Turns out I was wrong again. Just another fuck up to add to my ever growing list.

My thoughts were interrupted by Alice and Jasper arriving somewhat breathlessly back at the table in a flurry of activity. Both were glowing with exertion from dancing and from the excitement of being very much into each other. They sat down, practically in each other laps - they were that close.

"This boy sure can dance!" she exclaimed looking at us, "I could hardly keep up!"

Jasper went on to say how it was the other way around, but I wasn't listening, I was stewing over my current predicament. How in the hell did I keep getting myself into these situations? I thought I left all this angsty 'does he like me, doesn't he like me' game playing in high school. Turns out I was mistaken.

I waited 'til Alice finished talking and looked at me, wanting to repeat the eye-conversation I had just had with Rose.

But I didn't need to. Alice took one look at Edwards's body language and looked at me in alarm her eyes wide and eyebrows arched.

'What's wrong?' she asked me with a look.

'I don't know' I silently screamed with my eyes. My hands were staring to shake more now and I clasped them tightly in my lap to stop anyone from noticing.

She looked at Rose for help, but she just shrugged and looked perplexed.

She sent me a 'trust me' look, took a deep breath and spoke.

"So, boys did you order us a round of drinks or do we need to grab a waiter?" she looked around the table, her gaze finally settling on Edward.

"We didn't have to" he replied politely almost coldly. "The waiter knew exactly where you were all up to" he practically spat out, a smooth blank look on his handsome face.

The tone of his voice set me on high alert, he was definitely pissed about something. I glanced quickly at the girls, their faces mirrored my own and I knew then that my thoughts were right, we were on to something..

Alice spoke again, making sure to keep her tone light. "Where exactly are we up to girls? I've forgotten", she kept her eyes on Edward for any clues that might shed some light on the situation.

Just then the waiter arrived at our table. "Three delicious hot party punches for three delicious ladies" he said, looking straight at me and winking, "and three beers for the gentlemen" he added as an afterthought. He unloaded the drinks off the tray all the while keeping his eyes on me.

I was starting to feel a little flustered from all the attention. In conjunction with the shaking hands and stress over Edward's behaviour I was actually starting to feel a little nauseated. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself - the last thing I needed was to vomit. That would really enhance the mood, way to land your man I thought wryly.

"Will that be all for now?" the waiter asked, still looking at me. I nodded, then swallowed back as gasp as his gaze slid down to ogle my boobs.

"Let me know when you are ready for you next cocktails", he continued smoothly, as though he hadn't just been caught checking out the girls. "My name is Jacob."

"Thank you, we will" I answered tightly and he disappeared back into the crowd, throwing me a wink over his shoulder.

I looked back to Alice, her eyes wide in disbelief. Rose was a mirror image.

'What?' I silently asked. Rose raised her eyebrow, challenging me.

'What?' I repeated with my eyes.

I was looking back and forth between the two of them waiting for an answer, a look, a hint, for anything really. They looked towards where Jacob had disappeared into the crowd and then back to Edward then back to Jacob again.

I was honestly perplexed until Rose looked down pointedly at my boobs, then at where Jacob had been. It took me all of two seconds to realise what they were saying. Was Edward... jealous? Jealous of the waiter?

My mouth opened in a silent surprised 'oh,' my hands stopped shaking at once and the slight nausea disappeared instantly. I looked to Edward and it all made sense. I felt instantly guilty and tugged nervously at the neckline of my top, had I led the waiter on? After looking down I decided that I had about the same amount of boob on display as Alice was and considerably less than Rose but I still felt very exposed. Was I inadvertently flirting with him? I was never actually sure of my 'skills' and frequently the girls had to alert me to the fact that I was trying to be picked up. I looked helplessly back to Alice.

'Fix it, please' I begged her.

She was onto it in a heartbeat.

"Call me Jacob" she scoffed. "Who did he think he was, being so familiar with you Bella? I know they get a lot of their money from tips but being sleazy, winking and copping an eyeful of boob is just not on!" She exclaimed looking around the table at everyone but keeping an eye on Edward to gauge his reaction.

'Thank you thank you thank you'. I sent her looks of gratitude as Edward visibly relaxed beside me.

Rose jumped in at this point. "I hear you Al, a girl should be able to have her assets tastefully on display without attracting unwanted attention." She stressed the unwanted.

"I agree" I said, "it's nice that they are polite and helpful, but I think he's a little too Ken-doll for my tastes, even if I was looking." I held my breath, waiting to see what Edward would do.

"What do you mean, Ken-doll?" Edward asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

"You know, trashy plastic. Cut from the same mould as all the others." I paused, then added, "also, fun to play with for about five minutes 'til the novelty wears off and you realise he doesn't actually do anything, just stands there looking perfect. And he probably has a small dick." I finished quietly.

I was met by stunned silence around that table, then the boys burst out in loud laughter. I looked around to my girls, big smiles on all our faces. Rose motioned to my boobs with her head and silently suggested that I readjust my top to it's previous arrangement. I reluctantly did so and was met with approval from both of them. I leaned a little closer to Edward and relaxed.

Crisis averted, ego well and truly stroked and restored, I raised my glass filled with neon pink liquid and gave a silent toast of thanks and gratitude to my girls.

**###**

**EDWARD**

Fuck. I was such an idiot, I realised as the laughter died down after Bella's Ken-doll description. I knew I was being a bit of an ass, but I couldn't help it. Seeing that guy fawn all over Bella and drool over her cleavage just brought out my caveman tendencies.

"Ken-doll, that's a good one" Emmett guffawed, then stopped short.

"Wait a minute," he turned to Rose. "I'm not a Ken-doll, am I?" He had a pouty, almost wounded look on his face.

"No, stud," she said, patting his bulging bicep, "you are more of a GI Joe." Alice and I stifled giggles.

He looked at her blankly. "Explain yourself, woman" he demanded.

"You know, rugged, sexy and bends in all the right places. Oh, and most importantly, anatomically correct" she said with a wink.

We all laughed again and Emmett looked pleased.

I can't believe I had thought Bella wanted that guy's attention. I gave myself a bit of a pep talk. She totally likes you; she jumped you on the beach last night and didn't want to jump into bed the first night. Definitely a good sign, she wants more than a one night stand. Plus, that kiss she laid on you in the lobby should have been a fair indication. I was so stupid sometimes. Also the 'even if I was looking' comment she had made gave me a bit more hope. Man up bro and show her some of that Cullen magic.

I draped my arm along the back of Bella's chair as she sipped her pink drink and leaned in closer to her. I let my breath tickle the side of her neck and felt a swell of pride as she shivered in response.

"You smell amazing, is that a different perfume from last night?" I asked as I nuzzled further in.

She stiffened slightly, her breathing quickened and she blushed a delicious shade of pink before looked up at me from under those long lashes, I felt my cock stir just a little.

"It's all the beauty treatments we had at the spa today" she said shyly. "What can you smell?"

I leaned in closer and inhaled while looking into her eyes, her pupils were huge and I was drowning in them. My cock hardened further. Fuck, this was going to be a long afternoon and evening if I couldn't keep my shit under control.

"Hmm, let me see." I spoke quietly so she had to lean in to hear me better. "Definitely honey, roses and vanilla, plus something fresh and something else sweet?" I asked after another quick inhale. She was intoxicating, mouth-watering and I wanted to lean in closer and lick her. Either that or take her upstairs and fuck her senseless. If I played my cards right then hopefully later I would do both.

She nodded while still looking into my eyes. "You're right, first we had a cucumber and honey wrap, then a frangipani sugar scrub, followed by a vanilla bean massage. Her words faltered as I began to rub my finger along the nape of her exposed neck.

"Go on" I whispered, thrilled by how I was affecting her with the smallest touch. What I was not so thrilled about was how much touching her was affecting me.

"Then a soak in the rose petal bath to finish" she said in a breathy whisper. Her hand fluttered to her chest. I glanced to where she has rested her hand and noticed that she had also had her nails done.

I raised my hand slowly to her chest and took the hand that was still resting there and brought it to my lips. I gave her three light quick kisses over her knuckles, then stretched out her fingers to admire her nails.

"This looks nice" I murmured to her, my voice still low. "I noticed your toes earlier too, very sexy."

Her breath hitched. My cock hardened again, God I was responsive to this girl!

I was torn away from Bella with Alice's voice.

"Ask her what the polish is called Edward." She had a sly little smile on her lips. I felt Bella stiffen in alarm under my hand. I increased the size of my circling on her nape and she relaxed a little, but still remained on alert.

I raised my eyes to Alice and looked at her blankly. I raised my eyebrows, asking for more of an explanation.

"All the nail polishes at the spa come from this range that has fantastic names" she explained. "I'm wearing two shades from the Alice in Wonderland collection." she held her hands out in explanation.

"Called what?" Jasper asked as he picked up her tiny hand to take a closer look at the blue sparkly polish.

"That's 'Mad as a Hatter' on my toes," she gave them a little wiggle which Jasper seemed to appreciate judging by the look on his face, "and 'Absolutely Alice' on my fingers."

"It looks great, babe" Jasper murmured, as he brought her hand to his mouth for a kiss. Bastard stole my move.

"What about you, Dollface?" Emmett asked Rosalie.

"Alice chose first, so I kept with the name theme. I went with 'A-Rose by Dawn-Broke my Noon' for my fingers and 'Ladies and Magenta-men' for my toes." She stretched out her toes, and just like Alice had given them a little wiggle for Emmett's benefit.

He gave a little groan. "Fuck, that's hot" he murmured. "Never have I been so turned on by nail polish or by toes" he groaned, earning a giggle from Rose.

"So Bella," Alice said in her sing-song voice, "are you going to tell Edward the names of yours?" She had a mischievous look on her face.

I looked down at Bella, waiting for her answer. She picked up her glass and slowly drained the remainder of the liquid. I could tell she was stalling for time.

"Come on babe, it can't be that bad" I breathed in her ear. She gave a little shiver; I couldn't tell if it was in excitement or nervousness.

"Well," she said, "I originally chose another colour but the girls made…" she paused for a second as I thought I saw Alice give her a swift kick under the table - "…I mean, persuaded me to go with a slightly more vibrant shade" she finished weakly.

"So," - I prompted her – "What did you go with?" I was not really that interested in the colours she had chosen as they looked great, but her reluctance to tell made me want to know real bad. She took a deep breath and I admired the inciting way her chest rose and fell, I was distracted for a second 'til she spoke in a voice no louder than a whisper.

"'Bronzed to Perfection' for my fingers and 'Feeling Hot-Hot-Hot' for my toes."

I froze for a second and my fingers stilled at the nape of her neck. My mind was racing with the possibilities of how this could play out. Could I gently encourage her to be the girl who jumped me on the beach last night? Or without prompting would she become the girl who kissed me in the lobby? Either way, I hoped my comment was not going to come back to bite me in the ass.

Bella sighed a breathy little sigh and my cock grew uncomfortable in my shorts. That sound brought back the memory of her kisses and the feel of her body last night. I gulped before resuming my stroking.

"So, are you?" I asked in a croak.

She looked up at me, again from under those long eyelashes.

"Am I what, Edward?" she asked sweetly.

"Feeling hot-hot-hot?" I answered with a smirk, thinking I would stun her into silence and produce the mother of all blushes. But what came out of her mouth next floored me.

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A/N Time for some recs! I read lots and these are a few of my faves at the mo:

"Love in My Box" by cosmoandmarvar, a geeky Edward meets a free spirited Bella. It's a mix of emails and dialogue and its laugh your ass off funny.

"Athletics Day" by Dollegirl, a cute little one-shot that makes me smile. High school Bella and Edward, no lemons but plenty of reminders of teenage angst. Dollegirl had written another lemony one shot that is good too plus one other that hasn't updated for ages but I still live in hope!

"Died and Gone to Heaven" by DoUTrustMe. Accidents happen. Sometimes you die and meet God. Sometime you die and meet SexGod. It's a funny story with a witty Bella and a smart mouthed Edward. Not yet complete but I wait with baited breath for each new chapter.

Reviews are better than having Edward admire your manicure!

See you next week

Jul xxx


	12. Chapter 12 Nodding

**Disclaimer: **Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

My Fic Bitch I_heart_Fifty has a blog. (www(dot)twikiwi(dot)blogspot(dot)com). It is awesome. A recent post is on your top ten fan fic picks. I had to have 20 'cause that's the way I roll. You should go check it out and pick up something new to read. Tell her I send you, then she will know you are OKP (our kinda people)

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**BELLA**

I took a deep breath and looked up into Edward's smirking face. He thought I was going to blush and look away, I could tell from the cocky, self-assured look on his face. I knew from the second Alice gave me the choice of these two particular colours that I would get asked if I was feeling 'hot hot hot.' I initially thought it would've come out of Emmett's smart-ass mouth, but obviously not.

Everyone at the table was looking at me expectantly. The girls with looks of encouragement, the boys with looks of hesitation. Was I going to come out with the perfect one liner, or was I going to wimp out, stutter, blush and look away?

I looked back into Edwards's gorgeous eyes. He raised an eyebrow expectantly at me, silently issuing the challenge. I channelled my inner Rose and repeated my mantra to myself. I am a strong, sexy desirable woman and I deserve to be happy and loved.

I took one last breath, tilted my head in what I hoped was a sexy fashion and looked up at Edward from under my lashes, heavy with mascara. "You bet I am, big boy. If you're lucky you might just find out how hot a little later."

I tried to keep the rising red down from my cheeks and held Edward's gaze instead of looking away like I really wanted to. I looked into those gorgeous emerald green eyes and watched as the pupils got larger and seemed to smoulder. I've always thought 'smouldering eyes' was a Mills & Boon line but I was in fact witnessing smouldering eyes first hand, and they were fucking hot. Panty scorching toe numbing hot. Fuck I was in trouble.

The hand he had on the nape of my neck faltered for a second before recovering, and going back to the gentle caresses which were making me hot for him. I was feeling pretty good about myself as I had stunned him into silence. I gave him a little wink, which cause his eyes to widen a little before a small groan escaped from his lips.

I quickly glanced at the girls, I was pretty sure that was a 'fuck I want some of that' groan rather than a 'oh fuck, what have I done' groan. From the way the girls had grins like the Cheshire cat plastered on their faces, and the boys were looking at me with a new-found respect I knew that it had been the former.

Rose gave me a little nod of encouragement as if to say 'what are you waiting for girl, bring him to his knees.'

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to get some food." I announced, while pushing my chair back and standing up. "I need to keep my strength up for later," I looked directly down at Edward," if you know what I mean."

Before I could blush and ruin the whole effect, I shimmied out from between mine and Edwards' chairs, purposefully giving him an eyeful of my enhanced cleavage. I headed towards the buffet table.

I could tell from the flurry of activity behind me that the girls were hot on my heels. I totally needed a girl talk to regroup, and get their opinion on what had just transpired.

"Mary on a marshmallow, Bella!" Alice squealed, as they descended on either side of me. I gave her waiting fist a bump without even breaking my stride. "That was amazing. I thought he was going to scoop you up, throw you over his shoulder caveman-style and take you straight upstairs."

The image Alice painted made me a little breathless, I wanted that to happen. I almost felt a little disappointed that I had told Edward that I didn't want to jump into bed right away, but it was a women's prerogative to change her mind, right?

"Nice job Bella, I couldn't have done it better myself" Rose added. "I liked how you added the wink at the end, and the eyeful of boob - pure genius." Her hand fluttered to her chest. "My baby girl is growing up, I have taught you well," she gushed like a proud parent and I smiled a little as I basked in her lavish praise. The old Bella was finally surfacing out from under all the crap James had piled on top of me and I had to admit I was loving every minute of it.

"Now, what are you going to do to seal the deal?" she asked.

I hadn't really thought that far ahead, I was kinda hoping after my suggestive comments that I could leave the rest up to him. It was how I had always done it in the past and I'd never had any problems. Let them you know you like them and want to hook up, and then the ball's in their court. But, I didn't want this to be the same as the other times (not that there had been many). I wanted this time to be fantastic.

I looked Rose in the eye - which was not that easy as we were still walking towards the buffet table. "I want this party to be four or five hours of fantastic, sexy, drawn out foreplay. I want him to want me so bad that he throws out those sexy fucking 'come do me' groans on a regular basis. I want him to be unable to keep his hands off me, even while he's eating. I want him to want to push me against that wall and ravish me. I want him to want to pulverise any other guys that so much as look at me."

We arrived at the buffet line and, anxious to not be overheard, I stopped what I was saying. I had also gotten myself a little turned on and was feeling a little breathless and flustered. I turned to look at the girls who had stopped behind me.

"So, do you think you can help me do that?" I asked them, one brow raised. They looked at me a little dumbly, mouths slightly agape, breathing a little hard themselves. I had never seen them like this, and frankly it had me a little concerned. Usually they would have been all over me with suggestions and one liners to throw in but this time, nothing.

I looked at them in exasperation, and then realisation dawned. "You think I'm being unrealistic, don't you?" I asked, not waiting for an answer. "You think that I can't do all that foreplay, ravishing, 'can't keep his hands off me' shit don't you?" I brought my hands up to my face in embarrassment." I can't do it, can I?" I repeated meekly to myself. I had gone and got all cocky. Here I was thinking that I was this sexy desirable woman when really I was out of my depth. I was just a small fish in a big pond, and I was drowning.

Alice was the first to snap out of whatever stupor they were in. "I can't answer for Rose but I couldn't speak earlier for two reasons, firstly because I was a little turned on from what you said," she blushed a little, "and secondly, I have never in the 12 years we have know each other, heard you talk like this about a man. I was a little stunned."

I stared at her, a little stunned myself.

Rose spoke next. "I totally agree with what Alice said on both counts, and I know you can do it" she said emphatically. "So, stop having whatever shitty little self-doubting inner monologue I know you have going on in there and listen up." She raised a brow and waited for me to nod before she continued.

"You've accomplished two of those things already" she said with a smirk, any traces of the earlier stupor gone.

What was she talking about, I hadn't done any of those things. Sure, I had pounced him at the beach but that was strictly G-rated, ok, maybe PG-rated - there had been some grinding and some ass-grabbage. And what a fine ass it was too. I began to think of all the things I was looking forward to doing, then fully processed what she had said.

"What do you mean I have already done two of them?" I demanded. "Explain yourself, woman!" I used the same tone Emmett had earlier.

Alice giggled, her hand at her mouth and eyes wide. "She has too!" she breathed. "She has done two of those things without even trying!"

I looked to Rose again, waiting for her explanation.

"Did you notice that Edward is right handed?" she asked, I thought about it for a second as I hadn't really been paying attention. I looked at her blankly. She shook her head in that 'poor, unobservant Bella' way that I was used to.

"Well anyway, he is" she continued, "and did you happen to notice that his right hand was curled very suggestively and possessively around the nape of your neck?" I looked at her, still a little confused about where this was heading.

"Jesus, Bella! Do I have to spell it all out for you?" she asked in exasperation. "Edward is right handed. This means, like 99% of the male population, he drinks his beer with his dominant hand. His right hand, she repeated pointedly. His right hand that was earlier draped around your neck doing naughty things to you, judging by the look on your face. He had to use his left hand to drink. You wanted him want you so much that he couldn't keep his hands off you even to eat, well he does."

I wasn't really convinced, so he drank his beer with his left hand, big deal.

"You said two things, what's the other?" I asked, still not convinced the first one was really legit.

"I get to explain this one" Alice interjected. Rose gestured to her to take the floor.

"You wanted him to want to pulverise any other guy that as much as looks at you. Well if you remember about two minutes ago, he wanted to jump out of his chair and rip the still-beating heart out of that sex on legs waiter who brought our drinks over. He was practically vibrating with jealously!" she said gleefully.

"Ok I suppose I will give you that one, but how do I get him to do all the other knee-trembling, panty-melting stuff I want him to?" I asked the girls in an almost half whine.

The couple in front of us in the slow moving line turned at my mention of panties, we all gave a little giggle.

Rose leaned in and started whispering a few suggestions that had me glad she was whispering.

Alice interrupted us with a tug to my sleeve. "Whatever you are suggesting, you better make it quick as the Bronze God and his panty-melting posse are heading this way."

###

**EDWARD**

We sat at the table and watched as the three girls strutted those fine asses away. I was still a little shocked as Jasper started to talk. "You have really got your hands full with that one, it's like she's all sweetness and light one second, then all dirty and nasty the next."

"The dirty and nasty is hot dude, she got you good!" Em added. I shot him a 'watch it' look and we all lapsed back into silence for a minute as I processed what they had both said.

It was true, some of the time Bella was quite shy and didn't really speak much and then it was almost like a switch was flipped. She comes out with stuff like that 'keeping up her energy for later' comment. I was confused, a little stunned and fucking turned on.

I rearranged my uncomfortably erect cock in my shorts, pushed my chair back and stood up. "Gentlemen," I addressed the other two, "I don't know about you guys but I'm going to get my smokin' hot girl and mark my territory before any Fabio waiter can get his slimy hands on her."

They both pushed their chairs back and joined me as we walked towards the buffet and our trio of women. We could see them in profile as we walked, Rosalie was whispering into Bella's ear and I was instantly interested to know what she was saying. My interest piqued when I saw Bella blush and her eyes widen at what Rose was saying. Alice then noticed our approach and they straightened up, all conversation stopped.

Bella watched my approach with a look on her face like she wanted to eat me, fuck it was hot. I let my pace slow and a smirk that I hoped oozed sex appeal spread across my face. I wanted to scoop her up and have her wrap her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.

We reached the girls as they got to the front of the buffet line. Bella turned with three plates in her hands and a smirk on her face. She faced Emmett and handed him a plate. "For you, GI Joe." He laughed and took the plate she offered. She handed the next one to Jasper. "For you, Guitar Guy," he responded with a gentlemanly bow and wink at Alice. Bella turned to face me a big smile on her face and the last plate outstretched on her palms, "for you, Edward" she purred.

I took the plate and raised my eyebrows, "What, no nickname for me?" I was secretly a little pissed that she had used pet names for the other guys and not for me. She raised her eyebrows back and beckoned to me. I moved slightly closer to her and she moved forward to close the small gap I had left between us. She stood on her tip toes, wrapped her hand around the back of my head and pulled my face down to hers.

She turned her head and whispered in my ear. "The only nicknames I have for you are not appropriate for polite company." My eyes widened a little. "I'm saving them all for when we are alone later, in your suite." Her tongue then flicked out of her mouth and licked my earlobe, I hissed and she hummed a little in approval then drew my lobe fully into her mouth and sucked it. Just as I was starting to enjoy it she stopped and released her arm from the back of my head. As she took a step away she playfully slapped my ass.

"Let's get some food. I'm famished" and she spun on her heel and walked up behind the others, leaving me in her wake and gobsmacked. Well fuck me ten ways 'til Sunday, this girl was going to be the death of me.

I followed the line at the buffet, randomly grabbing food, heaping my plate high. There was bound to be something on there that I liked. I kept my eye focused on Bella as she interacted with the others, teasing the boys about the amount of food on their plates and joking with the girls. She would fit in so well with our group at home, all three of the girls would. It was a shame this would probably end when the holiday was over, my heart sank at the thought. I wondered if there was any chance I could possibly see Bella again when we got home.

"I'm glad to see you have your plate piled high" a sexy voice breathed in my ear as I waited at the BBQ for my burger to be finished. I looked down and saw Bella standing at my elbow. She looked up at me through those lashes and I felt something slide up my back under my shirt and rub slowly up and down my back.

"If I have my way with you tonight, which we both know I am going to, you will be glad you ate all that you did." At the end of her sentence her hand slid down and gave my ass a little squeeze before she turned and melted into the crowd, leaving me standing there. It took all the self control I possessed not to drop my plate and run after her.

I knew what she was up to, trying to get me all worked up in this public place where she felt safe enough to do it without it getting too serious too quickly. I let her have all the power up until now and if that was what she needed to feel comfortable and let me make her mine, then I would allow her to continue to do so. I just wanted to let her know that I knew exactly what she was doing.

As I sat down at the table, I accidently on purpose let my hard cock brush against her shoulder, just enough to show her exactly what she was doing to me. She quickly looked up at me, her eyes wide and surprised. I sat down and leaned in close to her so my lips were next to her ear.

"Do you feel what you do to me gorgeous?" I whispered huskily in her ear. "Nod if you do." She hesitated a little then gave a small nod. "Now, nod again if you intend to keep doing this to me all evening." She quickly nodded again, this time a knowing smirk spreading over her face. "This time you can either nod again or shake your head, but I want you to be honest and there is no pressure either way ok?" I felt her stiffen and I was pretty sure she had an idea of what I was going to say next, so I took a quick breath and laid all my cards out on the table.

"I want you so badly it's taking all of my self control not to do all the things I have running through my head right now. Want me to tell you? I asked, remember you can say yes or no." She nodded before I could even finish asking. I chuckled and continued.

"The first thing is to pick you up, throw you on the table and ravish your senseless regardless of all these onlookers." I paused for a second and let that sink in a bit, her breath hitched and she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Do you want to keep playing this game?" I asked, "yes or no." She nodded yes again. "Well then, you eat and I'll talk, we want to have your strength for later now, don't we?" I said using the same line she had to me earlier. She nodded again.

I sat back for a minute to take a few mouths of food, chewed and swallowed then was back at her ear. "I can't wait until it we dance so I can have my body pressed against yours and hold you close. Do you want that?" She nodded.

"I was so jealous of that waiter hitting on you before, it took all I had not to beat him to a pulp. Did you know that?" She hesitated for a second then nodded. "Did it turn you on?" She looked quickly to Alice who was trying to catch her attention, blushed and looked away and then nodded again.

'So far so good' I thought; time to bring in the big guns. "Do you like it when I touch you?" I asked. She nodded very enthusiastically. I brought my hand to the back of her neck, "like this?" I asked. She hummed a little, her eyes slid half-shut and she nodded.

"What about this?" I asked, as I reached my tongue out and licked her ear followed by a small nip of her earlobe. She gave a little moan. I stopped what I was doing. "You need to tell me yes or no, Bella" I reminded her, and a small "yes" hissed from her gorgeous lips. I resumed my stroking.

Fuck, I was getting turned on. I had to stop this before I got too carried away so I asked her one last question.

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A/N I would say sorry for the cliffy but I would be lying. I'm not sorry at all.

Last week I rec'd a fic called Died and gone to Heaven and I said it was still in progress, turns out I lied. It is actually complete and fucking amazing. Go read it. I might have peed just a little while I was laughing reading this. Don't judge I have had two children really close together and this fic is really funny.

I'm on the hunt for more colourful phrases to use and would love some ideas. I_heart_Fifty only just let me get away with 'fuck me running' two chapters ago and we don't want to push her over the edge.

Big love being sent to Aaron Peckhan this week, the founder of Urban Dictionary (www(dot)urbandictionary(dot)com. It is my new favourite place to find stuff and provided the definitions for 'ken doll' and 'GI Joe' in last weeks post. Some of the stuff on there would make you have a laughasm (definition: a laughing fit which boarders on the orgasmic). I spend way too much time on there…..

Reviews are better than having Edward rub his cock against your shoulder. Te he he

See you next week

Jul xxx


	13. Chapter 13 Branding

**Disclaimer****:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

Today's gem of 'I was moaning like a whore In a church' was brought to you by I_heart_Fifty. As well as providing this stunning visual she also corrects my spelling and generally sorts my shit out. I thank you xxx

Admit it you have been wastin' time playing around with Urban Dictionary this week. Go on admit you are addictider to it. (Definition: 1. one who is addicted or cannot stop obsessing with something. 2. one who is so addicted to something they may become retarded or retardeder. 3. One who is addicted and may have sexual thoughts pondering about without noticing, especially when referring to the male sex. Pronunciation: A-dick-dee-der. Example: I_heart_Fifty is such addictder of RPatz)

**[IHF note: I would object, but it's true. I heart the Precious. BTW, this post is a little late as Jul had to have her appendix out this week. She's fine though :)]**

###

**BELLA**

Edward was leaning down talking dirty into my ear and I was moaning like a whore in a church. Ok, so I had only actually moaned once or twice but it was so inappropriate to be doing this here. Alice was looking at me with frantic eyes, trying to get my attention - but I knew if I looked up again I was a goner.

Edward licked my earlobe again and drew it into his mouth. I know I had done the same thing to him earlier and I hoped it had the same effect on him as it was currently having on me. I wanted him, I wanted him so badly I would have let him pick me up, throw me on the table and ravish me as he suggested earlier. I just would have told everyone to move their plates and mind their glasses.

I was so turned on I could barely see straight. "I have one last question for you, my Bella" that sexy velvet voice asked me. "Later, when this party is all over and we have danced, touched and kissed the rest of the day and night away, are you going to come to my suite?" I didn't even have to think about it and before I could stop myself a low moan slipped from my mouth followed by three very loud and drawn out words.

"Oh.

God.

Yes."

Shit, and fuck it all to hell. My hand instantly flew to my mouth as everyone at the table stopped their conversations and looked at me. I could feel the mother of all blushes creeping up my chest and face and I wanted the ground to open and swallow me up.

Edward pulled me into his chest as my hands came up to cover my face in absolute mortification. "Damn, woman! That was without a doubt the hottest thing I have ever heard" he murmured into my hair. "I wouldn't worry too much about the others" he continued. "The guys are looking at me with envy 'cause they want their girls to make the same sound - and the girls are looking at you like they are proud mothers". He chuckled.

I decided to face the situation head on and sat up straight and looked at each of the people at the table in turn, directly in the eye, challenging them to say anything. Emmett gave me a wink and a look of approval. Rose had both brows raised in surprise but, like Edward had said, she looked proud. Alice was bouncing in her chair with excitement and Jasper gave me a nod, a look of encouragement in his eyes. Lastly I tilted my head up to look at Edward and his eyes were dark and lust filled. I squeezed my thighs together and squirmed a little, the uncontrollable lust had returned. I had started this game and now it was coming back to bite me in the ass.

It was that look that made me decide to channel my inner vixen and fight the small seed of doubt that was trying to sprout inside me. I knew that I wanted Edward, shit the whole table did, and from that whorish display I was pretty sure he knew just how much.

I plastered on what I hoped was a suggestive smile, picked up my fork and began to eat. I motioned for Edward to do the same. "Need to make sure you clean that plate big boy, I have a busy time planned for you" I purred. Edward did a small double take and gave his head a little shake as if to try and clear his thoughts. He had a look of almost confusion on his face - as if what I'd said had been the total opposite of what he had been expecting. He gulped, and without breaking eye contact he picked up his fork and started shovelling food into his mouth. His hand found its way to my thigh and he absently stroked his palm up and down as he proceeded to eat everything on his plate, much to the almost palpable delight of the others at the table.

I wasn't really sure why everyone had such as interest in Edward and I doing the dirty. I could understand that the girls had an interest as they knew that I had been in a bit of a dry spell lately, but I was a little perplexed as to why the guys were so invested. Maybe Edward's luck had been as bad as mine, or maybe the girls had let them in on my lonely hearts status. Whatever the reason it made me feel good that the boys seemed to approve of us together even if it was only for a night or two. The small part of me that still believed in fairytales and happy endings wanted this to be more than a holiday fling but the adult part of me knew this was not going to be the case. But a girl can dream can't she?

After Edward had devoured his food and had both hands free, he let them do a bit of exploring. I usually would have been more than happy for him to do so, but I had been eating at a more ladylike pace and still had a good portion of my food to go. I was torn between telling Edward to keep his hands to himself for a minute so I could eat or just giving up entirely on the food and enjoying the sensations his hands were creating.

He had angled his chair towards mine and spread his legs wide so he was almost surrounding me. He was as close to me as the back of my chair would allow. His hand was still on my thigh but it had slowly crept higher up and every so often his fingers would absently play with the cuff of my Rosalie-approved tiny shorts. Every third or fourth circuit of my leg his little finger would skim under the cuff and creep enticingly close to the increasing wetness I had going on between my legs. Each time his fingers got progressively higher, I didn't know what I was going to do soon as my breathing was becoming choppy with little gasps thrown in for good measure. I sent up a small prayer of thanks that we were at a 5 star resort and they had adorned the outdoor tables with long white cloths.

His other hand was back at my neck and was alternating between rubbing lazy circles at my nape, stroking the soft skin behind my ear and trailing his fingers down to my collarbone and back. It was extremely difficult not to sink back into him and let out a loud moan, let alone continue eating.

I was saved again by Alice. "Jasper what is Edwards's full name?" Jasper hesitated for a split second, "Uh, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, why?" He had a perplexed tone to his voice. Her question had obviously not been in keeping with the current topic of conversation that the others had been engaging in while trying to ignore me writhing at the table.

"Jesus on a jalapeno, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, leave the poor girl alone for a second so she can finish eating in peace!" She held her tiny fists out to Rose and I which we dutifully bumped as the boys broke out into roars of laughter.

###

**EDWARD**

I reluctantly stopped what I was doing to Bella and sat up straight while the guys continued to laugh. Emmett was getting pretty worked up and actually started to choke a little to the point where Rosalie was pounding on his back, while Jasper had tears of laughter streaming down his face..

While they were all getting their breath back, I leaned back to Bella. "What is Alice's full name?" "Mary Alice Brandon" she whispered back, between her fits of giggles.

I waited 'til the laughter and choking had died down before I spoke in the same stern tone Alice had just used. "Mary Alice Brandon, what did you just say?"

She giggled, "I said, Jesus on a jalapeno, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, leave the poor girl alone for a second so she can finish eating in peace."

"The eating in peace bit I understood, and the totally unnecessary use of my full name, but what me and the guys" - I looked to the others for confirmation - "are wondering is, what is Jesus on a jalapeno?"

She looked to Bella, "This is your baby, Bells, you should tell the story."

Bella, now fully recovered from her giggling fit and a bit more composed (I was keeping my hands to myself as Alice had requested) waited until the table was quiet before launching into her story.

"In our first year of college we lived in the dorm and this girl called Angela Webber, who roomed next to Rose, had these very imaginative expressions. Initially we used them in a mocking way until we got to know Ange and realised she was really sweet and didn't deserve the mocking… but by then they had stuck. The more we hung out with Ange the funnier they got and now we are a bit competitive about them. 'Webberisms' were born."

Rose cut in at this point, "there are a few rules that must be adhered to before you stomp on in and say the first thing that pops into your head. Firstly, the first word has to be something religious, Ange's father is a pastor and while she looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth she has a rebellious streak and the first rule is in homage to that. The second rule is the second and third words must be 'on a' or 'in a'. The third rule is the Webberism must end in a food beginning with the same letter as the first word. Simple."

Emmet looked a little perplexed. "Those rules must have been made up while you were drunk or high" he muttered. "No other time could you get that precise about a phrase."

"You forgot to explain about props" Alice interjected.

"Oh yeah, props can be asked for in the form of fist bumps but it is up to the people listening to decide if props are deserved."

"So, you can totally leave someone hanging if you think their religious food thingy is not good enough?" Em queried. "Totally" Rose confirmed, "props are only given if the Webberism is used in the correct circumstance, if all rules are followed and if it is either creative or an oldie but a goodie."

Emmett leaned back in his chair and brought his hand up behind his head. "I believe, Blondie, that that comment from earlier was directed at me." Rose looked at Em with a confused look on her face. "That 'before you come stomping on it and say the first thing that pops into your head' line, you don't think that I can play your little Webberism game?"

She grinned at him. "I think you believe right, GI Joe"

Emmett sat forward slowly in his chair and brought his palms down onto the table. He looked to Jasper and I for confirmation and we both nodded. He turned to look Rosalie in the eye. "Samuel on a sardine, I do believe it's on like Donkey Kong!" He raised his fists for props which Rosalie reluctantly delivered.

"Bring on the mother fuckin' rukus, Pretty Boy" she said with a glint in her eye.

While all this talking was going on Bella has resumed eating and since she was almost finished I decided to let my hands go back to exploring, only to be given a sharp look from Alice which made me keep my hands to myself. I rested my hands on my thighs lightly but they were itching to be back on Bella's skin. I hand to grip my thighs tighter and tighter to stop myself reaching out for her. Every time the gentle breeze blew it brought a fresh wave of her scent to my sex-starved nostrils. I was pulled back to the present by Rose asking if we all needed another round.

Everyone nodded and the Rose motioned for the waiter. I felt myself stiffen as the same scumbag waiter from earlier headed our way. I decided that I could not take a repeat of the leering and disgusting winks that he had shown earlier, Bella was mine and he needed to know that.

I scooted back to my previous position with my legs on either side of Bella's chair, effectively surrounding her. My hand again found the nape of her neck and my lips weren't too far behind. I trailed small kisses up and down her jaw line noticing how the pulse in her neck quickened under my touch. Before I could really stop myself, I latched onto her neck and sucked, hard. It took a few seconds for her to realise what I was doing before her hand was at my face pushing me away.

"What the fuck, Edward!" She hissed, her hand cupping over the purplish mark I had left, her fingers gently tracing over it, then rubbing furiously like that would make it would disappear. As I looked at the mark on her neck a fresh wave of possessiveness rolled over me. Bella was mine and now everyone knew.

We were interrupted by the waiter's arrival. "Same again for us my man" Emmett drawled, indicating the empty beer bottle in front of him.

"And for the ladies?" he asked, throwing a wink at Bella, making my hands reflexively curl into fists in my lap. Rose was studying the menu when I saw her eyes light up. "Three of the next on the list" she said sweetly, pointing to the menu so only the waiter could see. "Ah, good choice" he purred. "Three Envies coming right up!" and with that he threw one last wink at Bella and headed to get our drinks.

Rose smirked at me as the extent of what she had done sunk in. She could see right through me, she knew I was as jealous as all fuck and had marked Bella to keep the waiter away. She could also see that I was possessive of Bella and more so than any one night stand of holiday fling should be. I wasn't even really ready to admit this to myself and now Rosalie was about to tell Bella. Fuck, I needed to man up and say something, at least give her a heads up. But how? I had only known her a day and didn't think it would go down well if I just blurted it out. 'Oh by the way Bella, the reason I just gave you a massive hickey is 'cause I didn't like how the waiter was looking at what is mine.' Yep, real smooth. I let out a sigh and turned my attention back to Bella. She was still sitting with her hand over her neck.

"How bad is it?" she hissed to the girls, gingerly lifting her hand to show them my mark. "It's not too bad Bells," Alice said soothingly, "I'm pretty sure I can cover it with some concealer and powder I have in my purse." Bella visibly relaxed beside me, but kept her hand over her neck.

"Come on girls, let's go and unbrand Bella" Rose said, pushing back her chair and throwing me a dirty look. "Geez Eddie," she drawled, "are you a horny 16 year old boy? I know Bella is a gorgeous piece of ass but surely you can keep your shit together for the afternoon, maybe keep your Hoover mouth off her?" She stood there, eyebrows raised waiting for an answer.

Both the boys chuckled as I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat. I could play this two ways, either I could get all shitty and tell her to fuck off, or I could man up. I pondered for a minute, getting on the bad side of your girl's friends was the relationship kiss of death and since I wanted this to work I guess that this was out. That left the man up option. I looked to Bella, who was standing there with her hand still clamped firmly around her neck looking a little panicked, and then back to Rosalie who was still waiting for an answer.

I reached out and grabbed Bella's free hand and pulled her tight to my side, she stood there stiffly. "Sorry babe," I said to her, "I didn't think," she relaxed a little. "I'm sorry that I acted like a caveman and branded you but it was the only thing I could think to do before that fucking slimy waiter came back and started ogling and fawning all over you."

"What do you mean it was the only thing you could think to do?" she asked quietly, "couldn't you have just sat there and ordered a drink like a normal person?"

"No" I replied, my voice a little husky and hesitant, "I needed to show him."

"Show him what?" she asked, sounding perplexed and a little annoyed.

I brought my almost empty bottle of beer to my lips and began to drink while frantically looking for the waiter in the crowd. I finished my drink slowly as I spotted him coming towards us, I had to time this right for maximum effect.

"Show him what?" Bella repeated, getting annoyed with my obvious stalling.

"Yes Eddie, enlighten us please, what did you need to show the waiter so badly that you felt it warranted the need to brand Bella for all to see?" Rosalie said as she gestured to the surrounding tables.

The waiter finally arrived at our table and was about to announce the arrival of our drinks when I spoke.

"I needed to show him that Bella was mine," and with that, I stood up, dipped her gently back and kissed her.

**###**

A/N – I initially borrowed 'Webberisms' from the ladies over at the Twitarded castle (twitarded (dot) blogspot (dot) com). I laughed my ass off when I read 'Christ on a cracker' from their blog. I was reading at work and an anti-twilight friend asked what I was reading so I quickly made up some shit, and to cut a long story short, she and I have been trading Webberisms via text ever since. All that are featured in this fic come from those conversations. (for the record, IHF is not too keen on them but it's my fic so they have stayed).

As always I am keen to hear your Webbersims.

Reviews are better than a caveman brand from Edward to the neck.

See you next week

Jul xxx


	14. Chapter 14 Moaning

Disclaimer: Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

Big A/N at the bottom…. So all I can say is enjoy!

Big ups as always to I_heart_Fifty – if you haven't checked out her blog yet – do it! www(dot)twikiwi(dot)blogspot(dot)com

###

**BELLA**

"I needed to show him that Bella was mine" that gorgeous gravelly voice said as he rose out of his seat, took me ever so gently into his arms, dipped me back and brought his lips to mine.

The first instance our lips touched I felt tingles flow from my lips down and pool deliciously in my belly. He started off slowly, his tongue teasing along the seam of my lips, begging entry, which of course I gave him. I eagerly opened my mouth to accept his tongue and it swept possessively around mine. I heard a moan being unwittingly wrenched from my mouth which seemed to excite him as the kiss went from being slow, sweet and lazy to frenzied and passionate.

Fuck, this boy could kiss. His mouth was devouring me and I couldn't stop myself running my arms along his biceps that were straining from keeping me in this oh-so-sexy dipped position. I could feel the heat building between my thighs and, desperately wanting some friction to ease some of the tension, I thrust my hips towards his trying to find some.

Unfortunately due to the position we were currently in and the fact that his lips were still worshipping mine with delicious sucks and nibbles, I hadn't really taken our precarious balance into account. As my heat-seeking hips struggled to find the bulge that was Edward's magnificent-feeling cock, I was distracted by him pulling abruptly away.

I involuntarily moaned with the loss of contact, which was quickly replaced with panic as I realised I was falling. Being a little on the klutzy side, this is not an irregular occurrence for me, I usually just let myself go limp and go with it, especially after a drink or two. But Edward was having none of that.

"I got you, gorgeous" he growled into my ear as his strong arms came fully around me, cradling my body merely inches from the floor.

"Oh, my hero!" I swooned in my best damsel in distress voice, as I looked into those eyes that were dark and filled with lust.

We were interrupted from our feverous embrace by the sound of applause. Edward lifted me back into an upright position and placed me gently back on my feet. I could feel the heat rising up my face and fought the instinct to turn and bury my face in Edward's shirt. I slipped my hand into his for courage and turned to look at our avid spectators, who were still clapping and whooping.

I turned to look at my girls first; Alice had a look of pure delight on her face and was applauding enthusiastically as she bounced up and down in her seat in excitement. Rose had a surprised but proud look and as she met my eye, she placed two fingers in her mouth and let out a shrill whistle.

The boys were the ones doing the majority of the whooping and Emmett's voice could be heard booming out over all the others "That's my boy, Eddie!"

Edward squeezed my hand in reassurance and bent down to whisper into my ear.

"Think we should take a bow?" I hesitated a moment and then nodded. As I felt him move beside me to bow I dropped into an elegant curtsy and lowered my head demurely. Those years of ballet my mother had forced me into were coming in handy after all!

After the applause died down and only a few titters remained, Edward pulled my chair out for me and waited patiently for me to sit.

I turned and gave him an innocent look. "I need to pop to the bathroom, honey" I drawled in an overly sweet voice. "As much as I loved being mauled by you in public, I have this to take care of." I gestured to the hickey on my neck. He had the grace to look a little sheepish.

"Well fuck me running!" Alice said jumping to her feet, "I got so swept up in Edward's romantic version of territorial pissing that I forgot we had the mother of all hickeys to cover up." She grabbed my hand and started to pull me away as we heard Jacob the waiter uncomfortably clear his throat.

"Three beers and three Envies," he said, all of the bravado and flirting from earlier gone. He placed our bright green cocktails on the table in front of our seats followed by Emmett and Jasper's beers. He circled around the table to where Edward was and leaned down and placed his bottle on the coaster in front of him.

He cleared his throat again. "Sorry bro, if I stepped on your toes earlier, didn't realise she was taken."

Edward looked up at him and gave that head jerk thing that guys do to show all is good.

Encouraged by the lack of hostility, the waiter continued. "Nice work bro, she is smokin'. You are one lucky dude" and with that he disappeared.

I blushed slightly at his comment and attention, and allowed myself to be dragged away by  
Alice and Rosalie. We headed towards the block of bathrooms not far down the beach as it was less crowded than the path back to the hotel. As soon as we were out of sight of the boys Rose startled me by pulling me into a tight embrace.

"I am so proud of you Bells," she said squeezing me a little tighter. "You were awesome back there, I thought it might have all gone downhill when you let out that whore-sized moan while he was shamelessly groping you, but you help it together. Done like the girl I knew you had the moxie to be."

She paused for a second then raised an eyebrow at me slyly. "Did you like it how I got him to go all caveman styles on you and show his true feelings?" I stared at her, open mouthed for a bit, before she continued to rant about how sexy and confident I had been.

I swear I could see tears glistening in her eyes as she went on about how well I had done with following her instructions and how I was a lot more confident than I gave myself credit for.

When Rose had finished gushing. Alice piped up. "Is it my turn now?"

She too pulled me into a fierce hug that had me gasping for breath. For someone so small she can sure pack a punch when she wants to.

"You were amazing Bella! So cool and collected and unruffled, I could see that you were really struggling not to blush a few times, going against all your usual instincts, and you did it beautifully!

"He was all over you like white on rice and you just sat there and calmly took it" she stopped her rant for a second, "well, apart from when he was going fingerpalooza on you."

At Alice's comment I felt myself turn an alarming shade of red. "There was no fingerpaloozing going on" I stuttered through clenched teeth.

"Oh," she sounded kinda disappointed, "I assumed that with all the moaning going on that he had made his way down to pussy town and there was finger banging, at the very least a little bit of clit tickling."

Rose burst out laughing. "Alice have you been browsing urban dictionary again?" she accused.

Alice had the grace to look a little sheepish. "I may have done a bit of research for this trip, just trying a few things out" she giggled. Alice had a habit of trying to pick up new sexual terms by reading urban dictionary online. It had some colourful terms and Alice was the queen of trying to use them in conversation even if they didn't entirely fit the context in which she used them. It was usually laugh-your-ass off funny, but today it was just mortifying.

"No Alice," I said tersely, "he did not 'head down to pussy town' as you so eloquently put it, nor was there any 'clit tickling' or 'finger banging'."

She looked at me solemnly as Rose swallowed back the giggles. "Then you are in for an awesome night - if he can get you to a three on the moanage scale without heading down to pussy town then when he does finally get there you are in for the best moangasm of your life."

"Alice," I sighed wearily, "I have no idea what you just said, but please can we just go and cover up this hickey and stop talking about pussy town and moangasms?" I pleaded.

"Well, alright then" she huffed as she pulled me and a still-giggling Rose towards the bathrooms to cover up the physical reminder of Edward's territorial pissing.

###

**EDWARD**

I snagged my beer bottle off the table and took a long pull as we watched the girls walk away. I noticed that they all had a little extra swing in their hips, Bella's especially. I was hoping that I had had something to do with that.

"So Eddie," Jasper drawled. "You look pretty pleased with yourself." I had to admit that I was a little pleased. I had managed to get rid of that leery waiter and also indirectly told Bella how I felt even if it was in a wankerish way.

"Way to go my brother" Emmett was holding his fist out for a bump, which I returned. "'Specially like the caveman styles with the hickey" he laughed. "I thought for a minute there that you were going to throw her up over your shoulder and run her back to your room to keep her safe, but no you did the old dip and kiss, you smooth fucker."

The thought of throwing her over my shoulder had crossed my mind but I was currently having too much fun teasing her and being tortured in return.

Emmett then sat up looking all serious. "So, my man, how're you going to seal the deal?"

I won't lie, I had been fantasising about having Bella in my bed since the moment I laid eyes on her but today it seemed liked there was nothing I could do to keep the image from my mind. Bella and I entwined on the huge bed, her long dark hair trailing over my body, those gorgeous breasts in the flesh… I shook my head a little to dispel the image and drag myself back to the present.

"I don't think he is going to have to do much" Jasper interrupted. "From what I can see, she is just as much into him as he is into her. Pretty sure my boy isn't going to have to work too much harder for it. I'm fairly certain that this deal is well and truly sealed. The question is, can he hold out until tonight?" He looked right at me, his brows raised.

I was certainly eager to get Bella back up to the suite but I was also enjoying our slow arduous torture of each other. It had been like an hour or so of fantastic foreplay. If we kept going on like this the sex when we eventually got there was going to be explosive.

Jasper stood up. "Well gentlemen, I see my lady coming through the crowd and I'm going to grab her and partake in a little grinding on the dance floor. You coming?"

I glanced at Em, who raised his beer at me in silent toast, I gestured back and we both drained our bottles. Emmett was in the same camp as me, dancing was ok, slightly drunk dancing was much better. Usually two beers was not enough but this afternoon I was getting a little buzz from somewhere else as well. We reluctantly pushed back our chairs and headed towards the dance floor.

When we reached the dance floor the girls were dancing in that way that only girls can. All in one big fucking glorious mesh of skin, limbs, asses and breasts. It was a sight to behold. Alice was on one side grinding into the back of Rosalie who in turn had her arms around Bella. They were all switching around once in a while with a few twirls and booty bounces thrown in for good measure.

We stood there, transfixed, while the girls continued to dance to Christina Aguilera's Genie in a Bottle. Did this DJ have anything from this decade? Regardless of how old the song was it was fucking hypnotising to watch.

Em was the first to recover. "Why the fuck are we standing here watching, when we could be over there, being part of the action?" That was all it took to spur us into action. I strode through the other dancers and more than a few guys shooting looks my girl's way. This usually would have bothered me but I was on a mission to get closer to Bella's beautiful gyrating ass.

As I reached the girls, I reached out and grabbed Bella's arm and spun her into me while looking at Rose and Alice.

"I think you two have something that belongs to me, thanks for looking after her but I can take over from here."

"About fucking time you came to claim her!" Rose teased, as Emmett swooped over and scooped Rose up into his arms much to her squeals of delight.

Like the DJ was reading my mind, he morphed into something a little slower. Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer came over the speakers and Bella let out a little squeal.

"I love this song! Summer of '99 it was all we played, we used to dance around Alice's backyard and dream about who we wanted to kiss to this song!" I saw her shoot glances at the other girls then almost as if by an unseen force, all three girls simultaneously reached up to their guys, grasped the front of our respective shirts and brought our faces in for a kiss.

As Bella's lips met mine I lost track of what was going on around me, I knew we were still swaying to the music but all I could hear was the blood pounding in my ears and the sound of the small little noises Bella was making. This was no sweet kiss like we had shared previously; no hesitant shy little kiss, this was all-in, no holes barred, all guns blazing and any other cliché you can think of.

Bella's tongue was shamelessly invading my mouth and seductively swirling around my own before retreating back into her own and begging me to follow. I groaned a little into her mouth which seemed to spur her on. Her hands, which were both still clenched into my shirt front suddenly went wild, one snaked up around my neck and into the base of my skull, gently tugged at my hair. It felt fucking amazing.

Her other hand slipped around my waist and up under my shirt. She seemed to hesitate for a second before lightly scratching my back with her nails, I was in honey-scented heaven. I bent down a little and put her into a slight back bend as I slid my hands down to snake under her shirt and pull the small of her back into contact with the rapidly growing erection I had going on in my shorts.

I suddenly couldn't keep still as she arched against me in an eager response; I reluctantly pulled away and let out a harsh rush of uneven breath as I looked down into her face. I took in her dilated pupils, the sexy flush across her cheeks and the kiss-swollen lips, it took all the strength I possessed not to drop her to the floor and finish what we had started.

"Bella, baby" I rasped out, "we have to slow down." She stuck out her gorgeous lower lip in a pout then started to chew it as I shifted from foot to foot and desperately tried to put a bit of distance between my painful erection and the heat that I could feel coming from between her legs.

She looked up at me with those big lust-filled eyes. "Why Edward, don't you want me?"

I let out a halted and unsteady breath. "Woman, you will be the death of me" I growled. I pushed myself flush against her so my still rock-hard cock was pressed firmly against her.

"Does this feel like I don't want you?" I asked in a ragged voice. Her eyes went wide with surprise, while she had felt my erection before I had never been so brazen about her feeling my whole length.

"Oh" she said in a breathy little voice.

"Yes," I said, a little more relaxed this time, "don't doubt for a second that I want you. I want you badly" and to illustrate how badly, I ground myself against her again. Her eyes slid half-shut as she hummed a little and rose up onto her toes so my shameless grinding was hitting her at slightly different spot.

I heard her breath start to come in short gasps and realised that Bella was using my cock to get herself off, in the middle of the dance floor, while others potentially watched on. Fuck I loved this girl.

###

**A/N** - sorry went a bit OTT on the Urban Dictionary…..

Definitions for those who are interested (please note these are straight from UD so sorry if anything offends).

Fingerpalooza: obsessive, excessive amount of fingering of a pussy.

White on rice: to be on or close to something. the word does not carry any racist connotations, and refers strictly to the foodstuff "rice", which is in fact entirely white.

Pussy town: that wonderful place between a women's thighs where your likely to find the clitoris if you look hard enough.

Fingerbanging: for one to insert a finger or fingers into a female's genitalia for sexual pleasure.

Moanage scale: a word describing the loudness of moanage. 1: sighs; 2: being a little whorish; 3: wanting it but able to go without it; 4: you just flat out want it; 5: bear-like moanage.

Moangasm: a moaning orgasm, usually with screaming the word "moan" at a loud level (60 dB).

'Genie in a bottle' was playing on the radio as I was writing this chapter (as a high school hit - class of '99) and I just had to add it in there. Then in keeping with the '99 theme 'kiss me' just had to come next. Neither are in any way great or epic songs but hey just go with it!

Reviews are better than getting your rock off against Edward on the dance floor at a five star resort while others potentially watch

See you all next week

Jul xxx


	15. Chapter 15 Discovering

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

As always I thank my Fic Bitch – I_heart_Fifty. Mwah x

I got nothin' else exciting to tell you right now… just enjoy!

###

**BELLA**

When Edward pushed his huge erection against me it was like a fire was lit down in my belly. I could feel where I needed the huge cock to be, but he was just a little too tall to hit the sweet spot that I needed him to. His slow undulation was supposed to prove to me how much he wanted me, but all it was doing was proving how much I wanted him.

Without making a conscious decision I was suddenly on my tip toes and short gasps were coming out of my mouth. In raising myself a few inches I had put my clit directly in the rubbing path of Edward's monster cock. I could barely hold my whore moans in as his thick cock gloriously ran the length of me hitting my clit dead on. My eyes slid to half-closed and I could feel my fingers gripping into Edward's shoulders as delicious warmth started to spread out from my clit.

I panicked for a second. I knew this feeling. I knew it well thanks to the trusty rabbit I had invested in after a series of bad dates. This was the start of an orgasm, I was going to have an orgasm while rubbing against Edward's massive cock on a dance floor of people.

I had two options. I could either ride it out – pun completely intended - or pull away and cockblock myself. My mind was made up a second later as Edward brought his mouth down to my ear and started to whisper.

"Don't think I don't know what you are doing, you naughty girl, grinding against my cock like that." He practically growled into my ear. The tingles inside me whipped up into a frenzy at the sound of his voice.

"Do you like that?" he whispered harshly, "my cock rubbing against your clit, making you moan and making me want to pull your legs around my waist and plunge into you?" I couldn't hold back my whimper.

"God, yes Edward.

It feels so good.

So good.

So fucking good."

"That's it, baby" Edward whispered harshly into my ear, "don't worry, it's a loud song. No one but me can hear your fucking sexy moans." The sound of his velvet voice in my ear whispering those dirty words helped push me over the edge.

The warmth spread from the soles of my feet and up my legs joining the swirling vortex of amazing feelings growing in my belly. One last swipe of that monster cock over my clit sent me over the edge and into a frenzied explosion of exquisite sensations that wracked my body against Edward.

If it hadn't been for him holding me up, I was sure I would have fallen. I sagged against Edward's chest as his hands skimmed over my back and arms and he whispered things into my ear. I felt my equilibrium start to return and full feeling returned to my toes. For me, the sign of a great orgasm was the loss of feeling in my toes.

As I gathered my wits, I began to listen to what Edward was saying.

"Bella, are you with me again?" he chuckled.

"Mmmmm…" I nodded dreamily.

"That was, without a doubt, the most fucking sexy thing I have ever seen - or been a part of." He growled in my ear. I let out a small whimper in response.

The next time he spoke, his voice seemed to be more in control. "I know you said you didn't want to jump into bed right away, but I don't think I can resist you for much longer. You make me want to lose control", he paused for a heartbeat.

"Do you want to lose control with me, Bella?"

I pulled back from him a little, reached for his wrist and angled it so I could see his watch. It was 4pm.

"Well, Edward" I said in an innocent voice. "We have known each other for about 24 hours, I have also had your tongue inside my mouth on more than one occasion and I just had the most toe-numbing orgasm without you even taking my clothes off. I'm pretty sure I'm ready to lose control with you." I held his gaze shyly as his eyes got wider and wider, the more I spoke.

Before he could respond, the girls swooped in, all hands flying and hair streaming and pulled me away from a heavily protesting Edward. Those fucking cockblocking whores. I tried to fight them off but Rose and Alice were firmly holding my arms as we spun further and further away from where Edward stood on the dancefloor.

When they finally stopped spinning us I opened my mouth to tear them both a new one for their cockblocking, when Rose clamped her hand over my mouth.

"I know that you are super pissed right now and would love nothing more than to scratch out both our eyes with your pretty Bronzed to Perfection nails, but just listen to what I have to say."

I huffed a bit around her hand and tried to pull it away with my own, but Alice held my hands firm. For someone so tiny she had a fair bit of strength when she had a few drinks in her.

Rose gently cupped my chin and pulled it so I met her eyes again.

"Bells, honey, calm down and we will let you go." I struggled for a second then realised that they would just continue to hold me here until I did. Rose was one stubborn bitch when she wanted to be. I reluctantly settled myself and shot her a look to release me. They both tentatively loosened their grip, the hand covering my mouth was the last to come off.

"Bella," Rose began softly," I know that the little bit of bump and grind you just had on the dance floor with Edward was possibly the best toe-numbing orgasm that you've ever had, but I just want you to stop for a second and think about what the plan was for this trip."

I looked at her like she was retarded. "We have a plan for this trip?" I asked. That was news to me. Rose shot Alice a helpless look.

"Look, Bella" Alice started, "Rose and I have been really worried about you since you broke up with that bastard James. We just thought that a little plan for this holiday would help you get over him." She paused before continuing, "well, not so much get over him, but get over what he said."

It all came back to me like it had happened this morning. James had said I was no fun. Not only that, as a parting shot he had added that I would never find a guy because I was a 'plain, boring mousy girl, from a two-bit town, whose only hope of turning a man on was if he had a switch.' The no-fun part I could handle as it was coming up to finals and I had always been a bit of a geek at heart. Studying was important to me. It was the other comments that had stung.

I knew I was a little boring and plain, non-descript brown hair and eyes and I was small all over. Not just in height but in the boob department too. But the thing that hurt the most was the comments on my sexual performance. I didn't have a huge amount of experience with men, a couple of dates in high school and a handful of relationships in college. My v-card was handed in with drunk fumbling in the first few weeks of college with a guy who lived on our floor, he was sweet enough but it didn't last.

After that, there were a few more relationships lasting a couple of months, a couple of dates here and there and two one night stands, but nothing really too serious. Until James.

We had been seeing each other for about six months and I had thought things were going well. We saw each other several times a week, spoke every day and had pretty good sex, or so I had thought.

Alice and Rose told me that his ego was just bruised as he had effectively given me an ultimatum and I had chosen my studies and future over him. But that didn't make it hurt any less.

I was brought back to the present by Rose. "Al and I decided that we were going to use this trip to improve your self-confidence and prove to you all the shit that fuckmonkey James said was a big fat lie."

She had fire in her eyes when she said it. "We decided that we couldn't let that shit-for-brains bastard steal any more of the gorgeous sexy best friend that we once had."

Alice took over. "What you couldn't see at the time and we couldn't tell you was that James was like a leech who slowly sucked all the life and fun out of you over the six months you were together. He said you were boring and plain when really he was all that. You are an amazing vivacious woman, Bella, who let that parasite latch onto you and almost ruin your life."

"I know it hurts when you think about what he said, but really it was the best thing that could have happened." I looked at her like she had a head injury.

Alice smiled at me and continued. "It was those comments that turned you back into the girl that we know and love." She grinned cheekily before continuing," it was also those comments that made you reduce Edward to the quivering lump of sexual putty you see before you."

"Sexual putty?" I asked, highly sceptical brows raised.

"Smooth, and ready for moulding into whatever you want and need, baby!" she said with a wink.

**###**

**EDWARD**

As I watched Bella being unceremoniously dragged away by Alice and Rosalie I felt like a piece of me was going with them. Less than 30 seconds earlier, I was fairly sure that Bella had told me in a roundabout way that she was ready to have sex. It was a little hard for me to concentrate on exactly what she was saying as I was still stunned over the 'toe-numbing orgasm' she had just brought herself to a few moments earlier.

The sound and feeling of Bella grinding herself against my hard as nails cock had been the sexiest thing I had ever witnessed. The act itself was nothing too out of the ordinary but from the small amount of time that I had known Bella it didn't really seem like something she would do. Or was it?

It didn't seem like something the shy and slightly unsure Bella would have done, but I was beginning to think that this was in fact not the real Bella at all. Since meeting her yesterday, I was starting to think that the funny, sexy, vivacious Bella that popped up when you were least expecting it was the real Bella and that she hid behind the shy, hesitant Bella.

It almost seemed that just when she was starting to have good time and relax, a little something filtered through her head that made the shy hesitant girl come back. I wondered if she had been hurt badly by some asshole and was feeling a little insecure in herself. The thought of anyone hurting her made me clench my jaw and ball my fists.

"Whoa Bro," Emmett said as he and Jasper came over to where I was standing.

"Don't get angry at the girls for dragging Sexy Mouth away from you." He grinned. "I may be a little slow on the uptake sometimes but I'm pretty sure that after that sex-tastic display on the dance floor you are gonna be getting some, if you know what I mean!" he finished by raising his eyebrows lewdly at me.

Jasper gave me a gentle nudge in the ribs. "Relax brother, Alice mentioned to me that Bella had been badly hurt by some jerk a few months back and they just want to see if she's ok."

I relaxed a little when I knew that I had been right about the asshole. It did explain a lot about her behaviour, at times it was like she was holding herself back. The real Bella would shine through with the witty remarks and cheeky expressions, then it was like she realised what was going on and reeled herself back in. I decided then and there to make it our mission on this holiday to banish that insecure Bella away.

"I thought as much" I murmured to Jasper. "Just from the way she was today I had a feeling some asshole had done a number on her."

Emmett looked at me. "Think that's why she is a bit split-personality?"

I shot him a look. "Well, you know what I mean." he said, backpedalling a little. "One minute she's this cool girl who does things that leave your mouth hanging open and the next minute she is all field mousey and hiding herself."

We both looked at Emmett in surprise. He wasn't exactly noted for his ability to read people. "Just 'cause I talk slow sometimes, doesn't mean I'm stupid" he finished with a grin.

I turned to Jasper. "Did Alice say anything else?"

"Not really" he replied. "Just that Bella had been hurt by some guy and was having a tough time getting over it. Alice didn't tell me much more other than the dick said some stuff to Bella that made her retreat into her shell and kind of lose herself a little. The girls were worried for a while but she seems to be slowly returning to her old self again."

"Well guys, I don't know what that fuckwit said to her but it is our job to show her over the next two weeks that not all guys are like that, and to get her to have some fun. You in?"

I looked to my friends, brows raised in question.

"Hell yes!" Emmett said, giving me a light punch on the shoulder to seal the deal. I looked to Jasper.

"You aren't doing all of this just to get into her pants are you?" he asked in a low voice.

I just stood there, my brows still raised and said nothing. "Just checking, Bro" he said quietly.

"So, you gonna help or not?" Emmett asked.

"Like you even have to ask" Jasper smirked.

Just then, Alice twirled over to us, took Jasper's hand, wound it around her shoulders and snuggled into his chest. "What you guys chatting about?" she asked, looking to each of us in turn.

"Edward was just filling us in on the plan for the holiday" Jasper said, giving Alice a soft kiss to her upturned face.

"Ooh! I do love a good plan!" she said, whipping her head to look at me. "Alright Eddie, spill."

"It's not too exciting, really" I stammered, a little nervous under Alice's close scrutiny. "Jasper just told me about the asshat that broke up with Bella and hurt her."

I shot a quick look to Jazz hoping I wasn't dropping him in it, but Alice was nodding, encouraging me to continue. "Well, we" I motioned to the guys, "just thought we should show Bella that not all guys are like that loser. We want to help her be the cool sexy chick that we see small glimpses of. I'm guessing that she was probably like that all the time before he fucked her over, right?"

I noticed that over the course of my little speech, that Alice's eyes had been getting wider and wider and her mouth had opened to a silent 'o'.

"Is, uh that ok?" I asked quietly, "we, um, wouldn't want to crash your holiday or whatever…" I finished lamely.

I was not prepared for what hit me next – I was almost knocked over by the tiny force that is Alice. She threw her arms around me and gave me a fierce squeeze.

"That is, without a doubt, the sweetest thing I have ever heard, Edward" she said, "we would love for you to do that for her, please help bring our friend back."

She went to pull away then stepped back up to my ear and whispered so only I could hear. "Sorry we cockblocked you, we just needed to know before she went any further that this is what Bella really wanted, and not just what we thought she needed."

She pulled back and looked me in the eye. "You know what I mean?" she asked, tipping her head to the side.

At that moment I caught sight of Bella and felt my heart speed up just a little. Rosalie was behind her with a waiter who had a tray full of drinks. I looked back down to Alice, a reassuring look in my eyes.

"I think I know exactly what you're saying" I said quietly, "I really want this too, you know."

"Good!" she said, with a small nod of her head. "Now, what are you doing here talking to me, go grab your girl and dance!" she said excitedly, all trace of the previous serious conversation gone.

"Hey, Eddie!" Rosalie yelled over the music. "Want a beer?"

I looked over to where the waiter was standing, surrounded by all my friends, I headed over to join them. Rosalie had a beer in her hand a little way over from where the others were standing. As I reached her she held it out to me. I extended my hand to take it but when I tried to she held firmly onto the bottle.

"Alice just filled me in on your plan" she said in a low voice, "and I like it, but I just need to add that Bella has been to hell and back these last few months, fighting off insecurities that no one should have to deal with." She paused for a minute, contemplating what to say.

"I just want you to know that Bella is family to me and Alice, and we protect our family. I'm not asking you to tell me that you'll love her 'til the end of time, but I am asking if you intend to become someone who will protect her too. Or are you someone we need to protect her from?" She released her hold on my beer bottle.

"I understand what you're saying, Rosalie" I said in an equally low voice, "I have only known you guys for about 24 hours, but already I can tell we'll probably see each other after this vacation is over.

"If Alice feels the same way Jasper does, we will be definitely be seeing a lot of each other" I chuckled. She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Yep, my man Jasper has it bad!" I said, laughing.

"Good to know" Rosalie said, "But back to Bella. This is a big hotel and if you're not going to be good for my girl then we can say goodbye now and probably manage not to see you for the rest of the trip."

My heart sank at the thought of not seeing Bella again.

"Like you said, Rosalie, I can't promise my undying love right now, but I can say this. I like her, a lot. In the day that I have known her, she has kept me on my toes and made me laugh. I know that she has been hurt, but who hasn't?

"I see glimpses of the person that she was before this asshole came along, and I want to get to know that person better. You don't have to protect her from me, Rosalie, I'm one of the good guys and I hope over the next two weeks that I can show you and Bella that."

She stood there silently for a minute, processing what I had just said. "Let's just hope you are one of the good guys Edward, 'cause if you aren't, Alice and I will go all Mama Bear on your ass. Like I said, Bella is family and we protect our own." And with that she spun on her heel and joined the others.

I stood there for a moment and sipped my beer, trying to gather my thoughts. I really meant what I had said to Rosalie. I liked Bella, she was amazing and I couldn't wait for the opportunity to show her that over the next two weeks. I glanced over to where the others were all standing on the edge of the dance floor finishing their drinks.

Alice and Jasper were entwined and he was absently kissing her head every few seconds in between laughing. From the way Emmett was jumping around and waving his arms it looked like he was telling his stoned monkey joke. Rosalie was giggling and hitting him on the shoulder; it seemed like there was a little more there than she was admitting even to herself.

I walked over to join the others as Emmett got to the punch line.

"And then the monkey looks down and says 'Fuuuuuuuuck dude, how much water did you drink?'"

The girls burst out in giggles and Jasper and I laugh. Em loved the stoned monkey joke and looked pretty pleased to have a new audience to tell it to.

I walked the last few steps towards Bella and held my hand out towards her. "Hey gorgeous," I murmured as she came right up close to me, "Wanna dance?" Her cheeks flushed a little, I'm guessing from what had happened the last time we danced.

"I would love to" she said, handing her empty glass over to Rose who gave me a slight wink and extended her hand for my beer bottle. I walk Bella further onto the dance floor and twist her hand in mine as her other hand comes up to rest lightly on my shoulder.

I slid my other hand around her waist and pulled her close to me, making sure to leave a small space between us, for my own sanity as well as hers.

###

A/N - stoned monkey joke in it's entirety:

A monkey is sitting in a tree, smoking a joint, when a lizard walks past.

The lizard looks up and says to the monkey "Hey! What are you doing?"

The monkey says "Smoking a joint, come up and join me, my cold-blooded friend." So the lizard climbs up and sits next to the monkey and they smoke.

After a while the lizard says his mouth is 'dry', and that he's going to get a drink from the river. At the riverbank, the lizard is so stoned that he leans too far over and falls in.

A crocodile sees this and swims over to the stoned lizard, helping him to the side. He then asks the lizard, "What's the matter with you?"

The lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting in the tree, smoking a joint with his new monkey friend. He then explained how his mouth got dry, and that he was so wasted when he went to get a drink from the river, he fell in!

The inquisitive crocodile says he has to check this out. He walks into the jungle and finds the tree where the monkey is sitting, finishing a joint.

He looks up and says "Hey, MONKEY!" The monkey looks down and says "FUUUUUCK, DUDE...How much water did you drink?"

Remember, reviews are safer than having Rose go all Mama Bear on your ass!

See you next week

Jul xxx


	16. Chapter 16 Recapping

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

All of the cocktails in this chapter are real drinks I found on the internet, however some of them sound like they would taste like ass. I beg you not to try them. Apart from the flirtini, that one is actually pretty fucking tasty. I wonder if it is too early for a drink? I guess it is afternoon somewhere...

Mwah Mwah to my fab fic bitch I_heart_Fifty who is away in Wellington (capital  
City of New Zealand and a fab place to visit) for work but still managing to post this for me, and early too! **[Mwah to you too babe, miss ya!]**

**###**

**BELLA**

The remainder of the evening passed in a blur of dancing, eating and cocktails. Edward and I were both very aware of each other but the electrically charged sexual tension that existed between us earlier had gone - in its place was a nice slow burn. I wasn't sure if this was only my view since I had been the only one to have an orgasm but Edward seemed equally as relaxed and mellow.

The six of us had already developed a firm friendship and I was secretly hoping that they would want to hang out more when we returned home. These guys were the type of guys that had always been friends with other girls and had left me feeling extremely jealous.

I could tell from watching Alice with Jasper that there was more than just friendship there. The way they were looking at each other, completing each other's sentences and just oozing smug coupleness, you would have been hard pressed to pick that they had only just met. It was sickening in a cute kinda way.

Alice was as transparent as a window and regularly wore her heart on her sleeve. Jasper seemed like the kind of guy that was open to that without taking advantage of it and complemented her perfectly. He was the yin to her yang, the calm that would balance out her own special particular brand of crazy.

Rose and Emmett were still in the verbal sparring, 'getting to know you' phase, but I could tell that she really liked him. I could also tell that he liked her - but was in denial to himself - to what degree I didn't know. After getting to know Emmett a little better I knew that he was exactly what Rose needed. A strong willed man's man who wouldn't take her shit and gave as good as he got. He would cherish her without trying to tame her and I could tell already he found her slight aggressiveness a turn on. Even though she wasn't actively searching for Mr Right she had found him and he was all she had been asking for.

I looked around the table at everyone and thought that I was so lucky to have these girls in my life and now hopefully these boys. It was on the second pass around the group that I realised that I was more than a little drunk. Everyone was a little blurry around the edges and I was feeling a bit of sensory overload, a sure sign of being drunk.

The water I was sipping was so clean and crisp, the ice tinkling musically in the glass with each sip. Every song that was being played was one of my old favourites and I could feel the low beat of the bass vibrating in my chest and radiating out to my fingertips. I was hyper aware of Edward's arm slung around the back of my chair and his body heat radiating out towards me. His warm breath tickled along the back of my neck with every quiet exhalation.

Though there was a lot going on I felt content, and rather than all of these thing competing against each other for my undivided attention, they seemed to be working together to create a feeling of complete and utter bliss. I took a deep breath of the crisp evening air and tasting the subtle scent of the sea as I snuggled back into Edward's arm and just let all the good feelings just wash over me. This was what I had been missing for the last few months, friends, laughter, acceptance and complete bliss.

"So girls," Rose slurred, placing her empty glass on the table and jolting me back to the present, "what we are up to now?"

I hesitated for a minute wondering what element of the conversation I had missed, when I noticed she was gesturing to the cocktail menu that was in front of Edward and I. I plucked it from where it was resting between two empty glasses and scanned the pages inside. All the words seemed to merge into one and I had to use my finger to steady them. Fuck! I was drunker that I thought. I slowly slid my finger down the page, stopping when I realised I was about a quarter of the way down and I was still not up to our last drink.

"Uh, guys?" I semi-slurred. "I'm a quarter of the way down this list and I am still not up to our place."

The others looked at me in disbelief. "That can't possibly be right" said Alice, "we only got here yesterday! Drink rehash, now!" she demanded.

"Ok, if you insist". I slid my finger back up to the top of the list and started to read out aloud.

"Alabama Slammer" I announced, waiting for the girls to chirp in. "First drink of the holiday, pre-lost luggage" Alice said, all excited, bouncing in her seat a little her arm gesturing wildly again, "this is fun!"

"Air Force One? I looked to the girls, "ditto!" they chimed.

"Followed by Banana Daiquiris" we all said in unison, followed by a round of giggles. The boys just looked on in amusement.

"Next on the list is Cosmos" I licked my lips at the thought of the tasty pink drink.

"Mmmm, Cosmos" Rose purred and licked her lips, more for Emmett's benefit I think than in appreciation of the drink.

"That was post-baggage mix up, but pre-bag swap, while we were waiting for you guys" Alice said while stroking Jasper's chest lovingly.

I let my finger trail down the list to the next drink, Chocolate Martinis. I paused for a second, thinking that this was the first drink I had had with Edward. Obviously they girls were thinking the same think as Alice was giving Jasper a kiss and Rose was absently stroking Emmett's bicep while giving him the glad eye.

"Wasn't that the drink you ordered after we swapped our cases?" Edward murmured into my ear, his breath sending little tingles through my body.

Alice's supersonic hearing must have been turned on. "Yes Edward, Chocolate Martinis were what we were drinking after we all met, pretty fitting don't you think? The chocolate design on the inside of the glass made the drink go almost the exact colour of your unruly mop.

"It was also pretty fitting as only about half an hour earlier after Bella and I had pawed thoroughly though your luggage and had a good snoop…" she paused for a much needed breath and I tried subtly but frantically to get her attention while at the same time silently willing her to shut the fuck up. To my mortification she ploughed on like the drunk jessy that she had become - complete with wild arm gestures and vivid facial expressions.

"Then, after Bella had a little 'I've got no clothes', and 'some stranger had my case' freak out, we repacked the bag - almost exactly as we found it, I might add - and Rose and I," she gestured wildly towards our friend "came up with the nickname the..." Alice trailed off, looking between Rose and I, her animated arm gestures halted and her facial vivid expression frozen in place.

She knew at that moment she had said too much. "Fuck!" she exclaimed. "Drunk jessy!" she yelped, then let out a small shriek and clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes as wide as saucers as she sent me 'sorry' messages.

The boys burst out laughing and I could feel - rather than hear - Edward chuckling beside me at our reactions. "What did you say Alice?" he asked as the laughter died down. She still had her hand over her mouth as she shook her head in response.

Jasper leaned down and gently pried her hand away. "Come on babe, spill." She clamped her hands back over her mouth but this time not as tightly.

Alice shot me a look that clearly said 'sorry, but I can't deny this man anything.' I thought hard for a second before I sent her one back that said 'bros before hoes'. While this was a saying designed for guys it was one we had liked and adopted our first year of college.

She hesitated slightly and a look of doubt crossed her face before her eyes lit up in triumph. "Bros before hoes - unless there are no clothes." She added an apologetic look at the end to try and soften the blow, but I was still deflated. I slumped back in my chair dejected, put one hand up to my face in preparation for the embarrassment that was sure to follow, and motioned for her to go ahead with my other.

Alice gingerly pulled her hands away from her face, leant forward in her chair and (expanding the story slightly) explained to the boys about how the Bronze God nickname had come about. All three stared at her in disbelief at the extent and prowess of her snooping skills.

Jasper stared at her a little longer and then spoke. "You got all that just from looking at the contents of his case?" She looked back at him with a little pride in her eyes. "I sure did, but I was always good at reading people."

Edward, now recovered from Alice's admission, bent down and murmured so only I could hear. "Well Bella, do you agree with her assessment? Was I all that you were envisioning and hoping for?"

I turned to look him in the eye, which I was finding a little difficult considering the amount of alcohol I had induced. "No, Bronze God, you are so much better" and leaned in to give him a short kiss on his cheek.

**###**

**EDWARD**

As Bella pulled away from my cheek it took all my control to keep my hands off her. After my talk with Alice and Rosalie I was trying to be less handsy and more charming. I was trying to act like the perfect gentleman, I was the epitome of smooth, I was a smooth oozer, I has smooth coming out of everywhere.

However, this was proving to be harder than I thought as the night wore on and we all got progressively more drunk. Who the fuck was I trying to kid - I was a fucking nervous wreck.

Bella had certainly mellowed a lot since her gorgeous orgasm on the dance floor earlier, but I was wound tighter than an virgin on prom night. It was taking all that I had to appear stress free, and from how relaxed Bella was I appeared to be doing a pretty good job.

"Back to the list B" Rosalie said from across the table. Bella lent forward to pick the cocktail list back up and resumed running her finger slowly down the list.

"Where were we up to…" she questioned, an intense look on concentration on her face.

"Chocolate Martinis" I said to her, a smile in my voice. She blushed and shot daggers at Alice before giving me a gentle shove with her shoulder. "Shut up, you!" she giggled, while using her finger to find the spot.

"Next came all the drinks we had tonight" she said, still using her finger to slide down the page and mouth the numbers as she counted. "Nine in total!" she said triumphantly, as she looked up to address the group.

"Hang on, that can't be right" she had a cute look of confusion across her face. "What are we drinking here?" she reached for her glass, sloshed it over her hand and took a big gulp. "Mmmm, tastes like apricots and rum" she purred, her eyes closed.

I swallowed loudly, all the wicked things I could do to her to get that sound out of her mouth again running on a continuous loop through my dirty little mind.

My wicked thoughts were interrupted by the three words I wanted most to hear from Bella.

"Just do me." My head snapped to attention and looked to hear what exactly had caused this change of heart. I was somewhat disappointed when I realised that she was just reading off the cocktail list.

"I agree!" Alice chimed in, taking another sip of her drink. "Amaretto and Southern Comfort, a' Just Do Me,' very yummy."

"So just how many have we done tonight B?" Rose asked.

"Nine" Bella replied.

"Nine!" the girls shrieked in unison.

"Are you sure, B?" Rose asked in a quiet voice.

"Yep, listen:

1. Delicious Hot Party Punch

2. Envy

3. Flirtini

4. Fuck Me Backwards

5. Getting Laid Lemonade

6. GBR - Gasping for Breath and Needed Resuscitation

7. Hot Screaming Orgasm

8. Island Deluxe

and lastly…

9. Just Do Me"

The girls just sat there for a second, letting it all sink in before Alice finally spoke. "Most the names are a little naughty aren't they?" causing all the girls to giggle again.

The next words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. "Why stop there ladies, why not have one more and make it an even 10?"

I couldn't believe I had just said that. Bella was tiny and 10 cocktails - even if spread out over the afternoon and evening - would surely tip her over the edge. But it was too late.

Alice had the list in her hand and was waving to a waiter.

Before he could make his way to the table I tried to reason with the girls by addressing the guys. "I don't know about you guys, but I am currently two parts mellow, one part sloshed, heading towards hammered. I reckon if we don't stop drinking - shitfaced is just around the corner."

Bella snapped her head to look at me. "I'm not 100 per cent sure what you just said, but all I know is that I want cocktail number ten, and after I order it you can define all those euphemisms for drunk that you just used."

I knew I was fighting a losing battle so I joined in the debate about which order the drunk euphemisms came in.

We were deep in heated conversation about whether smashed was more drunk than plastered when the waiter approached out table. Alice smiled at him sweetly as we all fell silent listening to what she was ordering.

"Beers for the boys please, and each of us will have one of these" she said, pointing to the menu.

"Oh no" I said, leaning over the table trying to grab the menu from her, "you're not doing that again."

"Doing what?" Bella asked sweetly while she pushed me back into my seat and sat on my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck in the effort to keep me seated.

"You know exactly what you are doing," she raised one eyebrow at me. "And what is that, my Bronzed God?" she drawled.

"You know." I was suddenly uncomfortable in the shorts department. She squirmed a little on my lap which didn't help.

"No Edward, I don't. Please inform me."

I let out a sigh. "You know, one of you orders a dirty sounding cocktail that has some sort of freaky psychic meaning to what we are talking about and when the waiter brings it over and announces it I inevitably end up looking stupid or…" I let my voice trail off as I realised what I was starting to say.

"Stupid or what?" Bella asked, her eye glinting with mischief.

Ah fuck it, I decided, and just blurted it out. "I'm pretty sure I speak for all the boys when I say that we either feel stupid or incredibly turned on."

Bella shifted in my lap again, her delicious ass grinding down onto my rapidly growing cock. She had unwound one of her arms from around my neck and was now sitting across my lap with one hand curled around the back of my neck absently playing with my hair.

I leant down to whisper into her ear. "Bella baby, that squirming and wriggling is not helping the ever-growing situation."

"What ever-growing situation?" she whispered back.

Rather than answering, I grabbed her hips and ground them down into my now fully aroused cock.

"Oh, that ever-growing situation!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. We were interrupted by Emmett.

"Right on the money, my man" he said, "especially when you take that first sip and shut your eyes and make those fucking hot sexy mini-orgasm sounds." We all groaned in unison and the girls had the grace to look a little embarrassed.

"Well boys, you have the chance to experience that again 'cause here comes Jake with the drinks" I said smugly.

Jake reached our table and unloaded the boys' beer bottles and three new cocktails. With a flourish, he said "Knocking Your Socks Off, times three for the ladies" and with a look of pity in our directions he disappeared.

The boys groaned again with me as the girls simultaneously leaned forward, picked up their tall glasses filled with orange liquid, shut their eyes and took a drink. The sounds that came out of Bella's mouth next had the same effect on my cock as they had been having all night. The boys and I groaned again.

"Delicious!" Bella said, as she sat her glass down on the table. She leaned back into me and snuggled close into my chest her mouth near my ear.

"Hey Edward," she whispered in a breathy, orange-scented voice.

"Yeah Baby?" I replied as I pulled her closer into me.

"You know that ever-growing situation you have going on?" I looked down at her.

"It's OK baby, don't worry about it" I shifted her around a little to give my cock some much needed room.

"But I am worried about it" she replied quietly, "very worried, and I would like to give you a hand to get it under control. Or a mouth if you prefer?"

**###**

A/N Is our little Bella offering what I think she is? Don't tell me that you wouldn't do the same if given the chance!

I'm not sure how it happened but some more Urban Dictionary snuck into this chapter...

Drunk jessy: one drunk ass female must consist of two of the following:

incoherent story telling usually accompanied by dramatic hand gestures and vivid expressions

the delusion everyone is taking her shit (e.g. car keys, cigarette boyfriend)

the inability to say 'wow that last drink really put me over I should stop drinking"

constant reassurance to others that she will 'totally remember everything tomorrow' when in actuality everyone can tell by the glossy eyed stare that she is completely blacked out.

If you encounter two of these four components in a drunk female you will be assured a very entertaining time with a drunk jessy.

Smooth oozer: Someone who is oozing smooth out of every pore and orifice.

Hammered: heavily inebriated but to a lesser extent than shitfaced

Shitfaced: drinking to the point of passing out. Side effects include blank spots in memory, puking your guts out, the inability to think and function coherently and cringing at the thought of alcohol the next day.

Smashed: to be heavily intoxicated to the point where behaviour is erratic and the ability to walk is no more.

Plastered: to be so drunk that you do yourself physical damage that requires first aid or a trip to the emergency room.

Sloshed: to be mildly but messily drunk. The inability to move your drink from the table to your mouth without sloshing it over the side of the glass and spilling it.

Tipsy: just a lil' drunk, you are buzzin' but not yet hammered.

Mellow: slightly and pleasantly intoxicated.

I can put my hand up and say I have been a drunk jessy on more than one occasion as well as being in all of these states a number of times. Ask IHF, we went to uni (college to all my American and Canadian readers) together. On second thoughts maybe don't ask her! **[my lips are sealed!]**

Remember reviews are better than a handsy smooth oozing Edward

See you next week

Jul xxx


	17. Chapter 17 Sleeping

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

**A/N -** This chapter is a bit light on Bella's perspective, 'cause I think is it time we delve deeper into Beachward's sexy ruffled head, don't you?

Thank you to all the fab readers that I have, I know you are there 'cause I obsessively watch my little graph of hits and visits move on the day I post. I love you for making feel that little fan girl squee of excitement as I check my traffic.

Also to my lovely serial reviewers ,xxxbulletxxx, soraChan01, McBella Alice Grey, Aslin, twilight kc, jetbackpack, pillow 912 and baseballshoppingmomma I christen you Beachward's Beach Babes. You ladies are one of the best parts of my week lately. I have lots of RL stuff going on and this little twiscape makes all that shit seem not quite so shitty. So I thank you.

As always big love to my twitastic fic bitch I_heart_Fifty, without whom this all might not be possible and would be definitely be spelt wrong.

###

**BELLA**

As soon as the words were out of my mouth I knew I had made the right decision. I wanted this, I wanted him. I also knew - as soon as I thought those words - that I did want him. I wanted Edward, and not just someone to fill the aching hole James had ripped in my chest. I knew in that moment, whatever happened with Edward - he was going to be the one to fix me, to make me whole again.

I knew everyone from Rose to Oprah would chaste me for saying those words, they would scoff at the notion that I needed a man to make me feel whole. They would go on to say the only person that could fix me was me, and to a certain extent that was probably right - but at this exact moment in time, all I knew was that Edward was going to make me whole again.

I had been doing a lot of work on myself over the last few weeks and with the help of Rose and Alice I'd come a long way, but I knew in my heart that Edward was the missing piece that was going to complete me. Not just physically, as I had originally hoped, but emotionally too. The emotional part might take a bit of time but I could definitely work towards the physical tonight.

I looked up at Edward through my lashes, in what I hoped was a sexy way. "So, Bronze God, do you want some help or not?"

He continued to stare down at me with his mouth open in a surprised 'o' but still not managing to disguise the desire smoldering in his eyes. He shifted a little in his seat and I could feel his erection pressing very firmly into the back of my thigh.

He cleared his throat awkwardly for a moment then abruptly stood up, catching me off guard. His strong arm swept under my knees while his other tightened around my waist as he swept me up bridal style while I merely gave a small yelp of surprise.

"Ladies," he nodded to the girls, "with your permission Bella and I are heading upstairs to sleep." He placed strong emphasis on 'sleep.'

"We both have had a fair bit to drink and I think that last beer has me careening very quickly from plastered towards hammered. I need a big glass of water, some prophylactic painkillers and a lie down." The other boys chuckled in agreement.

The girls looked to one another briefly and had a silent conversation that I was obviously not going to be a part of, so I just snuggled further into Edward and wondered if his arms were getting tired holding me here. What seemed like eons later they had obviously come to a decision as Rose turned to Edward.

"Off you go, stud" she said with a wave of her hand. Edward pushed his chair further back, me still in his arms and made to leave.

"Oh, Eddie?" Rose called in a sweet but steely voice. He turned and stood silently as if waiting further instructions.

"Take care of her" she said in a soft voice.

This was the last thing I heard as I sighed contently, buried my face into the crook of Edwards neck and drifted off to sleep, breathing in his scent in time with the gentle beating of his heart and the sway of his steps.

###

**EDWARD**

I made my way slowly and carefully across the uneven surface of the sand, gently cradling a now sleeping Bella to my chest. I could feel, rather than see, the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest and as she snuggled her face further into the crook of my neck I was sure I heard my name fall as a sigh from her lips.

I got a few stares as we made our way through the lobby and towards the elevators. A bell boy ran ahead of me and assisted by pushing the button and holding the door back for me as I gently carried the slumbering Bella inside.

"Which floor, sir?" He enquired politely, his finger hovering above the buttons.

"Top floor, please" I replied, wondering how I was going to get a tip from my pocket without disturbing Bella. He must have realized what I was trying to do as he quickly put his hands out to stop me.

"Please don't worry yourself, sir" he said kindly, "you seem to have your hands well and truly full!" with a chuckle and a polite nod the door slid shut.

I turned to look at us in the mirrors of the elevator. I admired the way that Bella fitted perfectly in my arms. While she was starting to get a little heavy it was a good weight, a comforting weight. A weight that I realized I had been missing for far too long.

In this short time Bella had made me feel something that past girlfriends never had. Standing here holding Bella, looking at the way we fit together perfectly in the mirror I felt a strange feeling, a content feeling, a feeling of home.

I consciously clutched Bella a little tighter to me, feeling a ripple of alarm run through me as she stirred in my arms. We exited the elevator and I turned towards my suite as Bella shifted again. I bent my head towards her and tried to soothe her back to sleep.

"Shh, baby. We're almost there, I just have to unlock the door and then you can get into bed." My words did not have the desired effect, as at the sound of my voice, her eyelids flickered then slowly opened.

She was looking up at me with a look of total trust and adoration and my heart gave a little flutter. "We're almost there, babe" I whispered into her hair and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. She tilted her head up and gave me a sleepy little smile before bringing her hand to my face and tracing my jaw, still giving me that same look of adoration.

"Thank you taking care of me" she whispered, as she gently swiped her thumb across my lips.

That small, simple move made me go a little weak at the knees, not with desire but with... love. She poured so much tenderness and love into that movement that I wanted to keep her safe and protected forever.

We arrived at the door to my suite and I had to make a decision about whether to put her down to get the key card from my pocket, or to remain holding onto her, juggling to get it out. My mind was soon made up for me as Bella spoke in a small voice - still thick with sleep.

"Where is the key? I'll get it for you."

"It's, uh, in my back right pocket" as she reached around to fish it out, I felt my heart swell as I hoped this meant she was as reluctant for me to let go of her as I was.

Bella inserted the key card into the lock and pulled down the handle as I pushed the door open with my shoulder - mindful not to bang her head or feet - as I maneuvered through the doorway.

As we stepped into the foyer of the suite I had a mini internal freak out. Was this was the right thing to be doing? I wanted this girl to be mine. I wanted her to meet my parents. I wanted her to watch DVDs cuddled on the couch at my apartment. I wanted to see her toothbrush in the holder beside mine. I gulped as I realized the intensity of my feeling for her. I didn't want to fuck this all up for the sake of one night of sex.

I looked down to the once again sleeping form of Bella and almost laughed out loud. She was in no shape to be having sex and I would never take advantage of any girl in that situation.

My inner turmoil a little less turbulent, I headed towards my bedroom, happy in the fact that I might still get all the things I had just been hoping for. I walked into my bedroom and lay Bella gently down on the bed. I tried to untangle her arms from around my neck but she murmured incoherently and gripped me closer.

"It's OK gorgeous" I whispered into her hair, "I'm just going to take your sandals off and pull the blanket up. I'm not going anywhere."

"OK" she sighed, and loosened her grip enough to let me slip out. I moved down to her feet and started to work the tiny gold buckles at her ankle. On the third attempt I realized that I was a little drunker than I had thought. I was glad I had been steady enough to carry Bella with no mishaps.

On the fourth try I conquered that buckle and moved to her other foot. Once that sandal had joined its mate on the floor I took a minute to admire the polish on her toes. The bright pink colour was a sexy as hell and I couldn't help reaching out to stroke the little toe closest to me. Bella withdrew her foot in reflex and let out a sleepy giggle. My girl has ticklish toes, and with a chuckle of my own I filed that information away for later.

I left Bella's sleeping form and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash down two painkillers with half a bottle of water. I grabbed the bottle of painkillers and some more water, and headed back to Bella. I placed the two bottles on the bedside table and with one lingering glance at the empty space beside her I reluctantly settled onto the chaise lounge beside the window.

I had left the drapes open and the moonlight was spilling into the room, throwing long silvery beams across the bed making my girl look even more beautiful than I had thought possible. The moonlight danced across her face, highlighting the fullness of her lips and the shadow her lashes created on her cheek. Her hair pooled around her collar bone and I had to use all of my self-control not to walk over and run kisses along it.

I let my eyes stray to the gentle rise and fall of Bella's chest and greedily admired the top of her breast that was barely visible above the neck line of her top, peaking out tantalizingly, enticingly driving me insane. Moving my gaze downwards I noticed that her top had ridden up underneath her and a strip of creamy skin of her belly was visible. I imagined running my hand slowly across that skin and reveling in the way she would react with a shiver. I imagined running my hand up her small ribcage and finally skimming the underside of her breast...

My thoughts were interrupted by Bella stirring. "Edward?" she called in a small voice, her hand almost instinctively reaching out for me in the empty space beside her. I was over to the bed before she could ask for me again.

"Yes my love?" I murmured quietly holding the hand that had been reaching out for me. "Where were you?" she asked, her voice gently accusing.

"Just over there on the chaise" I replied.

"What were you doing all the way over there?" She was bit more awake now as she struggled to sit up. I moved to help her and when she was propped against the headboard and had rubbed her eyes a few times, I passed her the bottle of water and 2 painkillers and remained silent.

"Thank you" she said as she took them from me. She took a dainty swallow of the water with the pills before gulping it greedily. She glanced around the room for the first time and noticed how small the chaise was.

"You were planning to sleep there all night?" she asked, skeptically pointing to the chaise that would have been more suited to someone Alice's size.

I reached up and ran my fingers through my hair. "Uh, yeah?"

"Why?" she had a perplexed look on her face for a few minutes before realization dawned on her. Her hands came up to her face.

"Its cause I'm sleeping in your bed" she said through her hands. She pulled them away before continuing. "I can go back to my own room and give you your bed back" she said quietly, as she made a move to crawl to the edge of the bed and get out.

I grabbed her wrist gently to stop her. She had a look in her eyes of sadness and rejection and I mentally kicked myself for letting it get there in the first place. I had to make this right and fast, I couldn't have my girl getting the wrong idea of what I wanted again.

I took another look at the hurt in her eyes and decided then and there to do whatever I could, never to let her feel that again. It was time to stop playing games, man up and tell her exactly how I felt.

I took her other hand in mine as I got more comfortable kneeling on the floor beside the bed, our eyes level.

"Look, Bella. I like you, I really like you. I haven't felt like this about a girl in a really long time. In fact, I don't think I've ever felt like this before." I kept eye contact with her the whole time, wanting to try and read her reactions and see if these feelings were mutual. From the look in her eyes, I thought they might be. Her look of hurt had been replaced by one of hope. I cleared my throat and continued.

"You bring out a side of me that I didn't realize I had. I feel very protective towards you, and I want everyone to know that you're mine." I let go of one of her hands and stretched it up to the hickey I had given her earlier, with a little chuckle.

"I need everyone to know that you're mine and I'm sorry if I upset you with this, but it was all I could do to stop that waiter hitting on you." Her eyes opened in surprise but I continued on.

"The reason I decided to sleep on the chaise was so that I wouldn't take advantage of you. I want our first time to be amazing, not some half-arsed drunken fumble that you only remember parts of in the morning. I want to be something you remember with excitement and longing, not regret.

"I knew I couldn't sleep in the same bed as an amazing gorgeous sexy woman like you and keep my hands to myself, 'specially with all the sexual tension that's been building between us since we met." Her eyes widened and it looked like she wanted to say something, but I ploughed on, needing to get everything out before I lost my nerve.

"From the first moment I laid eyes on you, sitting on the patio with the girls drinking cocktails, I have been under your control. You're like a drug to me, my own personal brand of heroin – and I can't get enough. I'm yours, plain and simple."

"What I need from you Bella, before I continue, is to know one thing. Do you want to be mine?" I looked into her eyes for what seemed like an eternity, but was only a matter of seconds before she answered.

"Yes, Edward. Oh, God, yes!" she sighed, threw her arms around my neck and pulled me up onto the bed with her. Fuck, I was glad that went the way I was anticipating. My head was swimming and I was pretty sure it was from the amazing girl in my arms and not from all the beer earlier.

Bella pulled away slightly, and tipped her head up towards mine, bringing me in for a sweet kiss. We continued for a few minutes until I could feel Bella's lips getting more and more relaxed and the kisses getting further apart.

"You tired?" I asked her.

"Mmmmm" she mumbled.

"Are you comfortable like that or you want something else to sleep in?" I asked her.

"Something else would be great" she mumbled, almost asleep again. I nudged her with my knee.

"Don't fall asleep again, you don't want to be uncomfortable. Why don't you go use the bathroom and I'll grab you something to sleep in."

She mumbled under her breath again and reluctantly rolled out of bed, disappearing into the ensuite. I heard the sound of the water running before Bella peeked her head around the door. "Can I use your toothbrush please?" she asked in a small voice.

"Of course" I replied as she disappeared behind the door again.

"Hey, Bella" I called before she could shut it completely and her head reappeared. "Heads up!" I threw her a t-shirt from the top of my suitcase.

She flashed me a grin as she caught it and shut the door again. I stripped down to my boxer briefs and put on a t-shirt of my own, pulled back the sheets and slid into bed. I was just getting comfortable as the bathroom door opened and Bella came out.

She had let her hair down and her face was pink from being washed. I let my eyes travel down her body and gasped at the sight. My shirt was miles too big for her and the neck hole had slipped down to expose one shoulder. Her legs looked endless under the shirt and I was glad she had changed.

She walked to the bed and slid in beside me. "I hope you don't mind, I used your hairbrush too" she said.

"Not at all, feel free to use whatever you want" I offered.

"Thanks, I'm all good for the moment, but there are a few things in there I would like to use later on" she said quietly. I looked quizzically for minute running through what was in the bathroom that Bella might want. She smiled at me while I thought. When realization dawned on me Bella shot me a knowing smile.

"When we run out of yours I have a box in my case too" she said, eye shining. "Goodnight, Edward" she leaned over to kiss me chastely on the cheek and tried to roll over like an old married couple.

In a second I had her pinned under me, her eyes wide with excitement and lust. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" I asked in a low voice.

"What exactly do you think I'm saying, Edward?" she asked, cheekily. I continued to stare at her, trying not to focus too much on the way she was squirming under me.

"If you think I'm suggesting we move on to the box of condoms in my case when we're finished with yours, then you're exactly right" she said with a wink. I let her go and rolled onto my back with a groan.

"You'll be the death of me, woman" I sighed, pulling my arm up over my face. "How am I supposed to sleep now?" She just giggled and snuggled into my side pulling the arm off my face and putting it around her shoulders.

"Better get all the sleep you can," she whispered. "It's the last night you'll be getting any for a while." I groaned again and she giggled and snuggled closer into me. I could feel the heat radiating from her. I never usually wore anything to bed and was feeling restricted by the t-shirt.

As if reading my thoughts, Bella lifted her head. "What do you usually wear to bed?"

I hesitated for a second, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. "Um, usually nothing, but I'm fine like this" I said quickly. She was quiet for a moment before responding.

"I don't think I'm ready for you to sleep fully naked yet, after all I am only human" she joked, "but I would be more than OK if you wanted to take your shirt off" she finished timidly. "In fact, I would prefer to sleep against your warm chest than your t-shirt".

"Your wish is my command, princess" we both sat up and I pulled my shirt over my head, throwing it towards my case. We settled back into our previous positions.

"That's much better" Bella practically purred as she absently stroked my chest. "While we are talking t-shirts, I like the way you branded me this time."

"What are you talking about?"

"The shirt I'm wearing" she said, a hint of a smile in her voice. I reached over and snapped on the beside light to see what she was talking about. As soon as I turned the light on I realized which shirt she was wearing. It was my favorite old college rowing shirt with my name and number on the back.

"I didn't even realize" I said, as we settled down to sleep again.

"Well, I like it anyway" she said. "It's one brand I wouldn't mind wearing."

We were silent for a few minutes before I heard Bella's voice quiet in the moonlight. "Edward?"

"Mmmm?" I answered, feeling a little sleepy myself now.

"About what you said earlier," she hesitated and my eyes popped open ready to listen. "I feel exactly the same" she whispered, "minus the hickey."

"Well, I'm very glad to hear that" I playfully tilted my head over to give her full access to my neck. "If it makes you feel better please feel free to even us up." She giggled before we both slid into sleep wrapped in each other arms.

###

**A/N **- Isn't Beachward dreamy? Reviewers get Edward declaring his undying love to them.

See you next week

Jul xxx


	18. Chapter 18 Biting

Di**sclaimer:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

While I have dabbled in a bit of lemonade until now I have also been a cockblocking whore, for that I apologize. I am a big fan of lemons but reading them is a thousand times easier than writing them. As you are well aware you have waited seventeen chapters for this so I hope and pray it was worth the wait.

Love to I_heart_Fifty who said this chapter was "Fuckhawt"! Squee!

###

**BELLA**

As I drifted towards consciousness I was acutely aware of a comforting heavy weight over my waist and a solid warmth behind me. As I gradually awoke a smile spread across my face as realization dawned - it was an Edward-shaped warmth curled up behind me, and the weight on my waist was his arm.

I lay there for several delicious minutes just basking in the wonderfulness that was last night. I'm not going to lie, there were parts of it that were still a little fuzzy from the numerous cocktails, but I remembered the important parts. Edward wanted me to be his and he was mine. I gave a little fan girl 'squee' at that thought. He had also offered his neck to even up the hickey stakes last night...

Before I had really thought it through, I rolled over in his arms and snuggled my way into the crook of his neck. I gently nuzzled, trying to get his head into a good position without causing him to wake. He must have liked what I was doing as he mumbled in his sleep a little and absently stroked up and down my back, causing me to give a delicious little shiver. If he could have this effect on me from absent-minded stroking, then I couldn't wait 'til he really put his mind to it.

The more I nuzzled into him, the more he woke. Fairly soon he was awake enough to have his hands wandering under my shirt and occasionally slipping down and skimming my ass. As I nibbled on his neck I could feel - rather than hear - his sounds of appreciation. It was hard to concentrate with his hands all over me and his contented sounds rumbling through his chest, but I had a mission. Operation 'Mark My Man.'

I slowly ran kisses along his jaw, up towards his ear and back. He pulled our lower bodies closer and hitched my leg up and over his hip. My breath caught in my throat as he ground his morning erection into me, hitting my clit dead-on and eliciting a small moan. I had to halt the fabulous friction I had been engaging in and hold myself away from him to regroup. There would be plenty of time for that later, I hoped. Eyes on the prize Bella, eyes on the prize.

Reluctantly pulling myself away from his enticing cock, I kissed back up towards his earlobe then took it between my teeth and bit gently, followed quickly by a suck to soothe the sting. He groaned and tilted his head a little to give me better access, just what I was waiting for. I pounced.

I latched onto the sweet spot just where his neck met his shoulder and sucked as if my life depended on it. He actually seemed to be enjoying it so I sucked harder and added a bit of teeth. A low moan escaped from his mouth and his hands found their way up to my breast. He gently cupped and squeezed, let his thumb run over my nipple causing it to harden and shooting a zing of electricity directly to my clit, almost causing me to lose focus on the task at hand.

I sucked harder and through his addled brain Edward obviously cottoned on to what I was up to. He let out a laugh and gently pulled me away.

"Well, good morning to you too, beautiful" he said, a huge smile on his face. "I see you were taking advantage of last night's offer to even us up" his fingers lightly traced the dark hickey he had given me last night.

"Sure was" I replied with an equally large smile, "but I have to say, I think the one I gave you is just a little more impressive" I proudly gave him a saucy wink. "It was so much fun I barely noticed that I feel as rough as a badger's arse."

He laughed at my language before his look changed to one of concern. "How rough? Are you OK? Do you need to lie back down? Something to eat? Some water? What do you need?" He fired the questions so rapidly at me I didn't get time to answer.

"Relax," I said through a laugh as I slid to the edge of the bed, "nothing brushing my teeth and downing a few more of those painkillers won't fix." I headed to the bathroom. I quickly peed and brushed my teeth before heading back to the bedroom and Edward.

He passed me on his way to the bathroom and reached out to swat my bum. "Painkillers and water are on the night stand, meet you back in bed in 5, OK?" with a wink he disappeared into the bathroom.

With an excited 'squee' I took the painkillers and jumped back into bed to wait. A few minutes later Edward appeared, rubbing the hickey I had given him earlier.

"What are you, part vampire or something? I haven't had a hickey since I used to make out with Jessica Stanley in her basement when we were 13, although I must say she never made it feel as good as you did." He laughed and slid between the sheets.

As he climbed into bed I admired how his muscles rippled and couldn't wait to run my hands all over them. I knew what I wanted to happen next, and I also knew that if I didn't instigate it, it wouldn't happen. I thought about what the girls would say if they were here to give me a pep talk. 'It's up to you Bella, you are a strong, sexy desirable woman and you deserve to be happy and loved.' Rose was right, I did deserve it - and I deserved it from the fine specimen of man lying beside me. I took a deep breath.

"Did you happen bring that box of condoms with you?"

Edward paused, one leg still on the floor. "Uh, no - I didn't, but Bella we have plenty of time for that, I don't want to rush you" he finished quietly. "There are plenty of other things we can do instead" he continued with a sexy wink, "if you know what I mean."

I did indeed know what he meant and while I was sure that foreplay with Edward would be mind blowing, I was ready. I sat up and faced him.

"Edward, you are not rushing me. I want this, I want you and not just for sex." He shot me a smile. "Didn't you tell me last night that you were mine?" He nodded, his eyes bright at the thought. "And didn't I tell you that I was yours?" He nodded again his smile now a mile wide. "Well, if I'm yours and you're mine, I would say we're about ready, wouldn't you?"

He looked at me for a second before throwing the covers back and jogging to the bathroom.

###

**EDWARD**

I stood in the bathroom with the bumper box of 24 condoms in my hand. Why was I hesitating? I wanted this and from what Bella had just, said she appeared to as well - but I was still not one hundred per cent sure. I decided that I would use Bella's mood when I entered the room as a guide about whether to progress or not.

I entered the room, the condoms in my hand, my senses on full alert ready to interpret her mood. Bella was lying on her side, propped up on one elbow, her hair loose around her shoulders and a big relaxed smile on her face.

It looked like I was in for a spot of morning sex.

It was all I could do to not run over to the bed and take her then and there, but I wanted this to be amazing. Well, as amazing as a first time with someone could be. I always found sex the first time as more of a discovery shag as you try to discover what each other liked or didn't like. I still hadn't decided whether Bella was going to be a girl who was afraid to say what she wanted or not.

When she was the shy, sweet Bella who blushed and avoided my eyes, I thought she would be passive in bed - but when she was the strong, sassy sexy Bella who rode me to orgasm on the dance floor I thought she would be telling me exactly what she wanted. I was excited to see which persona she was going to let rule her in the bedroom. I had my fingers crossed it was the latter.

I didn't have to wait long to find out as she shot me a super sexy look and motioned to the condoms in my hand.

"Well, I guess you agree with what I said?" She proceeded to reach out for me, hook her arm around my neck and pull me in for a scorching kiss. Strong sexy Bella was in the house and fuck, she was turning me on.

She rolled onto her back and pulled me down, forcing me to lie on top of her. I was mindful not to put all my weight on her chest so I propped myself up on an elbow. From this position I could gaze down on her as well as have access to all my favourite areas - which I planned to explore in depth later on.

We kissed leisurely for a few minutes and I was trying to hold myself back a little, so as not to startle her with how much I wanted her. I was almost sure that I didn't have to hold back since it was assertive Bella and not shy Bella who was in bed, but I just wanted to make sure.

I rested my hand on her hip and rubbed gently while we continued to kiss. Things must have been moving too slowly for her as she sat up and pulled her t-shirt off, throwing it onto the floor - leaving her just in a tiny pair of sheer panties.

Fuck.

Me.

I have officially died and gone to heaven.

Dressed, Bella was gorgeous but naked, she was absolutely stunning. I looked at her for a second, trying to take her all in. She had slightly swollen lips from our kisses, her lids were half closed and she had a dreamy look on her face.

Her skin was flushed and the pink tinge to her skin was enchanting. Her breasts were a perfect handful and I couldn't wait to explore them with my hands and mouth. My cock was responding from the sight of her and I could no longer keep my hands off her.

I slid my hand up to her breast and marveled at the weight of it in my palm. I squeezed gently and she moaned. Spurred on, I lowered my head to take her nipple in my mouth and felt it harden instantly under my tongue. I gently worked the other one with my fingers, pulling and plucking to a stiff peak. I switched my mouth to her other breast and she moaned again, the sound going straight to my already hard cock, and she hadn't even touched me.

"Oh my God, that feels so amazing!" she panted, as her fingers went wild tugging my hair and guiding me back to her other breast.

I placed my hand on her belly as I made my way back up to her mouth. She ran her hands up and over my shoulders as our lips met for a searing kiss.

I slid my hand lower towards the waist band of her panties before pulling back from our kiss. "Is this alright?" I asked her, hoping to God that it was, because I wasn't sure I had the willpower to stop, but would find it if she asked me to.

She nodded while at the same time lifting her hips invitingly, a clear indication that she wanted to get naked. Who was I to argue? I slid her panties down her legs before she kicked them with a giggle to the end of the bed.

"You too" she whispered shyly, tugging on the waist band of my boxers.

"You sure babe? I'm more than happy to make this all about you" I said.

"If it should be all about one person, it should be all about you" she said in a mock serious tone. "Especially since it was all about me last night on the dance floor. Now off, off, off…" she chanted while tugging on my underwear.

"Well, if you're sure" I trailed off.

"As sure as I am that I'm yours and you're mine" she said, with a sexy yet sincere look on her face.

In a flash I had my boxers off, my hand back on her breast and my lips firmly against hers.

She took the hand I had resting on her hip and slid it down, a wicked glint in her eye. "Come on, Big Boy" she purred in my ear, "I want you to make me cum as hard as you did last night." That was all I needed.

I slid my hand lower to make contact with her warm wet folds and slid a finger down to find her clit. As soon as I made contact, a low sexy moan escaped Bella's mouth. I started off slowly at first, getting a feel for what she liked. Every time I made a pass over her clit another moan flowed from her lips and my already hard cock stiffened further.

"Oh baby, you sound so sexy" I whispered into her ear. She immediately moaned again as I slipped a finger inside her and continued to work her clit.

"Oh my God, Edward. I'm so close…"

"What do you need, baby?" I panted into her ear as her moans got closer together and I felt the wetness increase between her thighs.

"Can you suck on my nipple at the same time?" she asked, in between kisses.

"Whatever you need to come baby, whatever you need." I leaned down and took her nipple into my mouth. I alternated between sucking and biting gently.

"That feels so good Edward, oh my God that feels amazing, keep going, please keep going."

She must have been close as she was babbling almost incoherently and I could feel her starting to rhythmically contract around my finger. I slid another finger inside her, she was tight and warm and I couldn't wait to have my cock inside her. I increased the speed of the finger stroking her clit.

"Fuck!

Edward!"

I felt her contract around my fingers, shudder then collapse against my shoulder, a thin film of perspiration on her forehead and a huge smile on her face.

"Holy hell, Edward!" she panted, trying to catch her breath.

After a few moments she spoke again. "That was phenomenal. I mean, I thought the orgasm you gave me last night was amazing, but this one, this one, oh…."

"Well, I'm glad I could be of service" I chuckled and pulled her in close for a cuddle. But before I could get her comfortable on my chest, she was wriggling out of my grasp.

"Don't you think for one second, Bronze God, that we are done here." She wiggled her finger at me. "I woke up this morning looking forward to meeting your colossal cock, please don't disappoint me."

"Whatever you need baby, whatever you need" I rolled over and pulled her underneath me.

"Not so fast, buddy" she said, putting a hand up onto my chest. "You've had your turn and now it's mine so roll over and let me take care of you" she practically purred.

I liked the turn this was taking and let Bella push me onto the bed before she threw her leg over and straddled me. From this vantage point, I had a great view of her breasts and instinctively reached out to touch them.

"Oh no you don't, Gorgeous. Your play time is over, it's my turn now" She dropped her head to my neck and began to kiss me. The gentle pressure she was exuding on my neck felt amazing, and combined with her gently grinding herself on my cock, I was in heaven.

"Don't worry, baby. I won't mark you again" she said in a cheeky voice, "You just lie there and let me do all the work." She proceeded to kiss her way down my chest, towards my throbbing cock.

I thought she would have teased me a little, but she just went in all guns blazing and took as much of my cock in her mouth as she could manage. She applied a gentle pressure, with large amounts of tongue lashing to the head on the withdrawal. A low growl rang through the air when she did something fancy with the underside of my cock and her bottom teeth and when she did it again I realized that that animalistic sound was coming from me. That was all it took to almost push me over the edge and as if she sensed my situation she pulled away, quickly sheathed me with the condom I had left on the bedside table, and positioned me at her entrance.

She paused for a second and looked me in the eye. "This is going to be mind blowing, E, I can feel it."

With that, she sank onto me burying me up to the hilt.

I almost came on the spot as I was enveloped by her warm, wet centre, I could feel my cock twitching and I think she could too as she shot me a wicked look. "How you doing, Baby?"

"I have officially died and gone to heaven," I moaned, "But please please please don't move or this is all over."

She looked at me questionably.

"I know, I know" I said, between gritted teeth. "You are just so fucking amazing, Baby, it's not going to take much to send me over the edge. I just need a minute to get my shit together."

She nodded. "Just let me know when you're ready, Baby."

I shut my eyes, took a few deep breaths and tried to think unsexy thoughts. It didn't seem to be working.

"Ah, fuck it" I said as I clutched her hips and encouraged her to move, "this might be over quickly but I promise I'll make it up to you next time."

"You bet your sexy ass you will" she said as I increased my speed. The sight of her on top of me grinding and undulating was amazing.

I barely had a thought running through my head as the pressure building up in me was getting closer and closer to the surface. All I know was that it felt amazing for me and I wanted it to feel just as amazing for her.

I encouraged her to set her own pace and grind as much as she needed to cum.

"Oh my God E, that feels so amazing!" she moaned. "Is there any chance you can slip a hand in here to rub my clit?" She didn't have to ask twice. All it took was a few passes over her clit and a few sexy as all hell moans and I was close to cumming.

"Are you close baby? I don't know how much longer I can hold off" I panted.

"So close, E" she moaned, "So close." I reached my other hand up to cup her breast and gently pinched one of her nipples and that was all it took.

"I'm cumming, Baby, I'm cumming" she said in a loud voice.

###

**A/N** Well there we have it, please let me know what you think.

Reviews are better than branding your man.

See you next week

Jul xxx

P.S. I stole the 'rough as a badgers arse' line from a Marion Keyes novel, have been waiting for the perfect time to use it, thought it fit quite well…


	19. Chapter 19 Showering

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

A/N – Thanks for all your great feedback on the lemon! Glad you enjoyed it. Are you in the mood for more citrus? Tee hee hee…

###

**BELLA**

"Fuck me, E. That was amazing. No, it was more than amazing, what's better than amazing?" I paused for breath. "Fan-fucking-tastic, yeah, that's what it was." I knew I was babbling a little, but that was by far, hands down, the best sex I had ever had.

"Did you just call me E?" Edward asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Sure did, E!" I replied with a wink.

"I thought that was what you said, umm, during… but I wasn't sure. Where did you come up with that?"

"Well, I knew you didn't like it when Rose called you Eddie, and I saw the look you shot Emmett when he called you Ed. I felt that Edward was a little formal for the intimacy of the situation, so I went with E." His face remained impassive and I was unsure what his reaction was going to be.

"Also, sometimes the girls call me B and I like it, so I just thought... Is that OK?" I finished tentatively.

"I never thought I'd like any of the shortened versions of my name, but when it comes from your mouth I kinda do."

"So it can stay, then?" I asked in a little voice.

"Yeah, it can stay" he said, and pulled me in for a hug. We stayed like that for a while before my stomach gave a loud rumble and we both laughed.

"How about we share a shower then head down to breakfast?" Edward asked, "or would you prefer to stay in bed and order room service?"

I was in two minds, did I want to spend the day in bed with this sexy hunk of a man or did I want to head downstairs and show him off? As I was weighing up the pros and cons of each, there was tentative knock at the door.

I gave a little squeal and pulled the covers up around my neck, checking I was covered from chin to feet. Edward gave a small chuckle at my situation and checked that he too was covered before calling out for our visitor to open the door.

Alice stuck her head around the door, followed by Jasper. "Hey you two, sorry to interrupt - but we were getting ready to head down for brunch and we were wondering if you wanted to come with?"

Edward looked to me and I nodded.

"Great!" Alice trilled, "will 11 o'clock give you enough time to get ready? It's just after 10 now."

"Heaps of time, thanks Alice. We'll see you at 11" Edward replied as she disappeared back around the door. Jasper hung around for a second and shot us both a big grin. "This is so great, guys! See you in a bit" and with a wink he left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Neither of us said anything for a minute before a big smile spread over Edward's face. "Well, at least we don't have to worry that our friends won't like each other. Now, how about that shower, beautiful?"

Before I could think about it, Edward scooped me out of bed, sheet and all, threw me over his shoulder and carried me to the bathroom. "Edward! Put me down!" I squealed, as my fists pummeled all the skin I could reach.

"Not a chance!" he growled, as he drew me back around to his front and cradled me close to his chest, the bed sheet caught between us.

He reached his arm into the shower and turned on the numerous jets, all the time his eyes locked firmly onto mine. It should have been uncomfortable but the heat and desire that was coming from him was turning me on.

When the desire to touch more of him was too strong, I stretched up and kissed him. It was intense and passion-fueled from the start. Our tongues were fighting for room in each others' mouths and I let my hands roam over his body, my nails lightly scraping over his chest causing him to shiver.

"Fuck, Bella you feel so amazing" he groaned, "so amazing, I want you so much."

I untangled myself from his arms and the sheet, and stepped into the shower, tugging gently on his hand for him to follow me. I stepped under the spray, the jets massaging my aching muscles from all angles.

"I'm so glad we stayed at your place last night" I sighed, as the water continued to pour down on us. "Not just because you're fantastic in the sack, but your shower is to die for" I moaned in appreciation. Edward slid in behind me and I could feel his erection pressing into the small of my back.

"I'm glad you like it" he murmured into my ear, his hands resting lightly on my hips.

"I do like it, I like it a lot" I replied, enjoying the feel of his hands on me.

"What exactly do you like? The sex, or the shower?" he said, his hands leaving their place on my hips and sliding up to gently cup my breasts.

"Oh God, that feels so good" and with that he let his fingers glide over my nipples, causing them to harden instantly and send a zing straight to my clit. I turned around in his arms and pulled his head down for a searing kiss. One hand remained on my breast using those fantastically nimble fingers of his to do glorious things to my nipple, while the other started to slid down towards the heat between my thighs.

"Hang on, E" I murmured against his lips.

He pulled back, a look of concern on his face. "What's wrong, Bella? Is everything OK? Are you sore? I knew I should have let you shower on your own." His hand was raking furiously through his hair and concern was furrowed on his brow.

I reach my hands up and stilled his. "Edward, baby, look at me." He reluctantly looked me in the eye. "E, don't worry, I'm not sore, and trust me I want this just as much as you do. It's just that I've never had a good experience of shower sex - or just fooling around, actually. It's always awkward and dangerously slippery, plus someone always tends to get cold. I would much prefer to head back to bed and then shower after."

He looked at me, an incredulous look in his eye. "Let me get this straight. You aren't sore or uncomfortable, but you don't want to fool around or have sex in the shower." I nodded. "And you tried to explain yourself by giving the following lame ass reasons: number one, it is awkward; number two its slippery and dangerous; number three: someone gets cold; and lastly, you've never had a good experience." He counted them off on his fingers. "Am I right?"

When he listed them like that it did sound kinda lame. "Ah, yeah" I said in a small voice that was barely audible over the sound of the shower.

"Well, let me see if I can address these problems for you. Number one – awkwardness. Hmm, there's a bench in here, so I guess we can make use of that. If that's not to your liking I am pretty flexible, and don't mind getting a little awkward to accommodate your needs, so that's no longer an issue.

"Number two - it's slippery and dangerous. Now, I need to know if you're talking from an actual slipping and falling experience, like are there physical scars?" I shook my head. "You don't realize yet just how clumsy I am so while I have yet to fall, this is a real possibility for me" I said sheepishly.

"Well," he continued, "I would never, ever, let you fall and my coordination is great - if I do say so myself - so you are 100% safe with me OK? Right, that's slipping taken care of.

"Now, number three - someone always gets cold. Hmm, I don't think that's going to be an issue in this shower. There are more than enough jets to hit you at every angle you desire, and they're movable so you can angle them however you so desire, my jets are your jets. Plus, I don't feel the cold too much, and being around you definitely makes me hot." He waggled his eyebrows at me. "No need to worry, being cold is not going to happen on my watch.

"So, that only leaves us with you never having had a good experience with shower foreplay or sex. If you'll let me, I hope to change that." He stood there expectantly looking at me, a sexy smirk on his face.

"Oh, who am I to turn you down" I said dramatically, "but if any of my four points come into play I reserve the right to call time out. OK?"

"Whatever you want, Princess" he said sweetly. "But since you have such terrible past experiences, I want this time to be all about you. We have plenty of time to work on the shower sex later."

"If you must" I said, feigning indifference.

"Excellent. So if you'll just head over here to the bench with me and sit yourself down – I'll angle all the jets to your liking so you are nice and warm."

A few moments later, when I was satisfied that I was comfortable and warm, I gave Edward the go ahead.

"Come on, Bronze God, come change my mind about fooling around in the shower."

"Oh I plan to, Baby, I plan to" and with that, he lunged in and attacked me. My back was pressed up against the wall, and while in the past this would have been cold and uncomfortable, the smooth wall was surprisingly warm and soothing against my back.

Edward was alternating between kissing and sucking on my neck all the way from my ear down to my collar bone and back again. "Don't worry B," he said between kisses, "I promise I won't mark you again."

He next turned his attention to my breasts, his hand over one plucking gently on my nipple and mimicking the action with his mouth on the other one. I could feel each and every pull right down to my toes, and my clit was throbbing frantically, I was desperate for some friction.

"Oh God E, that feels so good!" I moaned, my noises echoing off the shower walls. He pulled back from my breast and I groaned from the loss of contact. "Why are you stopping?" I gasped.

"Just wanted to check you're not feeling awkward, cold or unsatisfied" he whispered, a smile pulling at his mouth.

"Baby, I'm so warm I'm almost combusting, I'm anything but awkward, and the only thing unsatisfying about right now is that you don't have your hands or you mouth on me" I said through clenched teeth. He chuckled as he lowered his mouth back to my breast.

As he continued to tease my nipples, his other hand slid lower and lower, getting dangerously close to where I wanted him. "Please E" I moaned, "please touch me, for the love of all that is holy please touch me!" I was frantic.

With a chuckle, he finally slid his fingers in between my folds, and rather than teasing me like I thought he was going to, he just dove right in with quick, effective strokes to my clit. It took a matter of seconds before I could feel myself teetering close to the edge. Edward must have felt it too, as he withdrew his fingers.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I all but screeched at him. "I was so close I could almost taste it!" I groaned with disappointment.

"Well actually, if it's alright with you, I would like to taste it" he hovered over me, waiting for an answer. It took a minute for me to realise exactly what he was talking about. My mouth opened in an wide 'o', the look of surprise evident on my face.

"Is that OK?" he asked, so quietly I could hardly hear him over the pounding of blood in my ears and the roar of the shower.

"You really want to do that?" I squeaked.

He took my hands. "Bella, baby I would love to do that, but if you're not comfortable, then I won't. There's nothing that would turn me on more right now than hearing you make those sexy little noises and moans while I caress you with my tongue."

"Well," I said in a small voice, "if you really want to, then who am I to say no" I finished weakly.

He flashed me that 1000 watt smile and pulled me in for a scorching kiss. His lips were firm and commanding and when he finally pulled away I was sure I was seeing stars.

He made his way down my body with small kisses and it made me feel cherished and sexy at the same time. He was kissing my belly while he pulled me to the edge of the bench seat, gently nudged my knees apart and nestled himself in between them.

He looked up at me. "Please B, let me know if you're uncomfortable at any stage, I just want to you feel amazing, OK baby?" I nodded, feeling a little apprehensive. James had never wanted to go down on me - he said 'the smell and taste was enough to put him off his own orgasm.' That had made me feel uncomfortable enough to be almost thankful he never wanted to do it after that. But James was the last thing I wanted to think of as Edward kissed the inside of my thigh.

My breath caught in my throat as he kissed the other side and then nuzzled his nose into the crease of my thigh and gave it a lick. I shivered and relaxed a little more, as I shut my eyes and tried to let the experience wash over me. He moved to the other side and gave another little lick and nuzzle, he was so close to where I wanted him and I wished that he would put me out of my misery and just do it already!

As if he could read my mind, he gently parted my folds and gave a slow lick. My hips instinctively rose off the bench towards his mouth as a moan escaped from between my parted lips. After that, it was if I had given Edward a secret sign, and he instantly lost some of the initial hesitation and started to devour me.

His tongue flicked deliciously over my clit and I could feel the orgasm building quickly inside me. It was the most glorious feeling washing over me, heat was radiating out from my core and I could feel the tingles flowing down my legs. Rather than letting me fall over the edge, Edward had me teetering on the brink of orgasm and allowing the sensations to build.

I was clenching the edge of the bench with one hand, and the other was wound around Edward's hair, tugging gently. "Oh god, E, that feels so good. I need to cum, please let me cum" I moaned.

He instantly switched it up a gear and increased the speed of his flicking tongue, while sliding a finger inside me and pumping slowly. "So good" I moaned, "Please don't stop!" he slid another finger in and that was all it took.

"Fuck... fuck, fuck, E, baby, don't stop!.. Don't stop! Oh, oh, oh my God."

###

**EDWARD**

The sounds coming from Bella as her orgasm washed over her were so sexy, it was proving very difficult for me not just to sit up and sink my throbbing cock into her slick heat. But I meant what I said, this was going to be all about her. I wanted her to feel like the gorgeous, sexy amazing woman that she was and if I had to forgo an orgasm or two in order to do that then it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

As she came down from her post-orgasm high, I buried my face in the crook of her neck and gently massaged the feeling back into her thighs. I knew from the position she had been holding herself in that she might be a little stiff. I didn't want her to have any chance to say that this had been awkward in any way.

"Oh my God E, that was amazing. At the risk of sounding clichéd, that was by the far the most amazing orgasm I have ever had!" she purred as the shower continued to flow warm over us and the clouds of thick steam billowed out to fill the remainder of the bathroom.

I strained through the steam to take a quick glance at the clock next to the sink and realized we had 5 minutes to finish showering, get dressed and head downstairs and meet the others.

"B?" I whispered, stroking her arm.

"Hmm?" she replied, sleepily.

"We have 5 minutes to meet the others, so if we're going, we should probably get a move on." I was reluctant to move as I was so comfortable snuggled into her chest, but if I was honest, my knees were getting a little sore from kneeling on the shower floor, though I would never let Bella know that.

"Holy shit!" she squealed, as she untangled herself from me and jumped up. We don't want to face Alice if we're late. She thinks that it's rude to keep people waiting and it sends the message you don't think they're important."

"So that's why you were exactly on time that first night at the restaurant" I said as Bella quickly washed herself before passing the soap and washcloth to me.

It was then that she noticed my erection had not yet subsided and her eyes widened. I chuckled.

"Oh E" she said, "that looks painful, do need a hand with that?" I noticed a wicked glint in her eye.

"We've now got three minutes to get downstairs" I reminded her, and she shot me an apologetic look before stepping out of the shower and grabbing one of the fluffy white towels from the rail. She handed one to me and I turned the shower of and stepped out.

As she wrapped another towel turban-style around her hair, a look of horror crossed her face. "What am I going to wear?" she groaned, and covered her face. "I don't have my room key and some of my clothes from last night are a bit worse for wear" she trailed off.

"Don't worry babe" I said, "I'm sure we can sort something out, between your salvageable clothes from last night and what I have in my case, or I can call downstairs to the front desk and have a new room key sent up for you."

"And face the wrath of Alice for being late?" she questioned, "Not in a million years, let's raid your case, E."

Less than two minutes later we were both dressed and ready to go. "Baby, you look hot" I said as I gathered her in close for a kiss.

"E we have no time!" She practically ran to the door and threw it open. "Out, out, out come on let's go!" I chuckled at her obvious nervousness. "I'll leave now if we can make out in the elevator."

She rolled her eyes at me. "I'll do whatever I need to, to get you out of this room and downstairs in the next 30 seconds."

"Not my favourite way to get lucky, but I'll take it any way I can get it, let's go Princess!" I took her hand in mine and locked the door to the suite.

Thankfully, the elevator was empty and I wasted no time pushing Bella against the mirrored wall and kissing her relentlessly. My shower erection had only semi-subsided and our mini make-out session helped restore it to its former glory.

"Don't worry E," she purred into my ear as she reached down to stroke my cock through my shorts, "if you can make it through brunch with this, I promise to take care of it afterwards."

"Uh, that would be good" I said nervously, clearing my throat as the elevator arrived at the lobby.

"About time!" Bella said as she dragged me quickly across the lobby towards the restaurant. "And we are only two minutes late, you can tell Alice it was your fault, OK?"

"OK, B" I said as she dragged me past the waiters and tables, and out onto the patio where the others were waiting.

"Oh there you are, finally." Alice said, placing strong emphasis on the 'finally'.

"We're only two minutes late" I said, "and it was totally my fault" I said sincerely.

"Well, I suppose it is only two minutes" Alice said, as she shot Bella a quick wink. I think it was then that she took a good look at Bella.

"Samuel on scrambled eggs, Bella! What in God's name are you wearing?"

###

A/N - Please let me know your thoughts on my shower scene it took me a long time to get it just right. Like Bella I find shower play awkward slippery, dangerous and cold...

I_heart_Fifty had a major SQUEE-fest this week when her TwiKiwi blog was mentioned on Twitarded, the holy grail of all Twilight blogs, in our opinion. If you haven't checked it out yet, head on over – right after you review this chapter. Reviews are better than foreplay being all about you.

www . twikiwi . blogspot . com

See you next week

Jul xxx


	20. Chapter 20 Planning

Disclaimer: Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

A/N - This is more of a filler chapter than anything else but I felt it was necessary to help with the story line.

I think there will be possibly 3 or 4 more chapters plus an epi. I am also working on a one shot – so, if you haven't already, please put me on author alert so you don't miss out.

Love always to I_heart_Fifty who keeps me on track.

###

**BELLA**

The others at the table swiveled around to look at me. I could feel the blush rise up my cheeks and I had to fight the instinct to cower and hide behind Edward.

"I think she looks hot" Edward said, as Alice shot him a look that very obviously conveyed that he had no idea what he was talking about. That didn't stop me blushing and giving Edward's hand a tight squeeze of thanks.

"I think she looks cute" Rose said, defiantly shooting a look at Alice, almost daring her to disagree.

"I think she looks like she just spent all night shagging, and then raided her guy's bag for a morning-after outfit, so as to not do the walk of shame wearing last night's skanky clothes" Emmett commented, matter-of-factly, causing us all to burst out laughing.

"Well, Emmett - you have part of the story correct," I said with a smirk, as I sat in the chair that Edward had pulled out for me. "But we actually just slept last night." His face registered a look of almost disappointment.

"It was actually this morning that we shagged" I continued, nonchalantly, as I pretended to be engrossed in the drinks menu on the table. Emmett's face changed to a look of absolute shock.

"Oh, and this morning we fooled around in the shower too, but we had to cut it short to come here and meet you all. We wouldn't want to face the wrath of Alice for being late" I looked straight at Alice, with a wink.

Emmett's mouth opened with a silent 'o' and the others burst out laughing again. I reached my hand out to stroke Edward's thigh and leaned in close to his side. "I hope it's OK that I said that" I whispered.

"OK? It was fucking hilarious - and just a little bit hot" he whispered back.

After the laughter had died down. Alice piped up. "So Bells, what exactly do we call this look? Bedroom chic? Boyfriend boho? Morning after modern?"

I glanced down at my ensemble. I had my shorts and sandals on from last night, with one of Edward's shirts. IT was so large on me that I had knotted it around my waist, and even with all but the top button done up it was still slipping off one of my shoulders. Up in the suite I thought it had looked cute but now, under all this scrutiny, I wasn't so sure.

"Well Al, it was either this shirt or one of E's wife-beaters, which was so long it would have looked like I had no bottoms on." I tried to sound more confident than I felt.

"Or you just could have got your lazy ass out of bed a little earlier and come back to our suite to get some of your own clothes" Alice said sweetly.

"Yes," I started slowly, "I could have, but then I would have missed out on sexy shower time with E, and we would have been late for brunch" I said equally as sweetly.

Both the boys raised their brows at my use of Edward's new nickname, it was like they were waiting for him to pull me up on it. The girls shot me a look that clearly said 'nicknames already, you go girl!' I was giving a little internal 'squee!' each time I said it, and I could tell from the way he looked at the other guys that Edward was loving it too.

We were interrupted by the waiter coming to give us brunch menus and take our drinks order. I was still feeling a little seedy so I just opted for a pot of peppermint tea. The others must have been feeling equally as bad as they also ordered either tea or coffee. I took a quick look around the table and realized that they were all a little worse for wear, and Rose and Alice were almost makeup free - a sure sign that they were hungover.

"So, guys" Emmett said, as the waiter disappeared. "What's on the agenda for the rest of the day?"

"I don't know about you all," Rose said. "But I am a little hungover and an afternoon on the beach in one of those blue and white stripy cabanas sounds like just the ticket."

We all murmured in agreement - apart from Emmett - who groaned. "Really? Really? That's all you want to do? I can't fucking believe it. We are here in paradise…" he swept his arm around him, "…and you all just want to lie on the beach and do nothing?" His tone was incredulous.

"It's alright, big guy" Rose said soothingly as she patted his arm. "How about after we finish brunch, we visit the concierge and make a plan for the next few days about what activities we're going to do. I don't know how you're feeling right now, but lying on the beach is about all I think I can manage. I'd hate to agree to one of your activities, only to not give it all the attention it deserves." She shot us a little wink.

"OK then," he said reluctantly, "but you have to promise we do the snorkeling on the other side of the reef tomorrow, no matter how much we drink tonight, OK?"

"Whatever you want Em, she replied soothingly, "Now, what are you going to have for brunch?"

While we all decided what we were having to eat, Edward let his hands do a bit of wandering, which after this morning's shower escapades had me feeling very hot under the collar. His hand slipped under the back of my shirt and was sliding up and down the length of my back, every so often slipping around to tickle the underside of my breast through the lace of my bra. I let a little sigh of pleasure escape from my lips.

"E," I whispered very reluctantly, "while that feels fucking amazing, I'm starving. If you keep doing that I'm not going to be able sit through brunch. And if I can't sit through brunch, then I don't get to eat, and if I don't get to eat, then I won't have enough energy for later. If I don't have enough energy for later… well that, that would be terrible." I finished with a sexy smile.

As quick as lightening his hand withdrew from my shirt. "Yes, you're right" he murmured, his voice thick with desire. "That would be terrible, very terrible indeed - considering I have big plans for you later…" he finished with a wink.

As we ordered our brunch and discussed what we each wanted to do over the rest of our vacation, a small thrill rang through me. I realized that we were going to be spending a lot of time with each other. I had been hoping this was going to be the case but I was also a bit hesitant about how I was going to bring it up without sounding like a psycho stalker. If I only had two weeks with Edward, I wanted to make the most of it. I wanted to spend as much time with Edward as I could, and from the sound of our plans, I was going to get my wish.

I wanted to spend every day doing fun stuff with the others and then every night in bed exploring with Edward. I wanted to learn every inch of him, what he liked, what he didn't and what drove him wild beyond belief. I also hoped that he wanted to learn the same about me, and a little shiver ran through me at the thought.

Just then, he leaned down and whispered to me. "I hope all these activities don't tire us out too much as I want to spend as much time with you at night as I can. Preferably naked. My place or yours, I don't care - as long as we're together." I turned to look at him. "If that sounds like something you think you'd like…" he finished, a small hint of uncertainty creeping into his voice.

It was at this point I realized Edward was feeling at least a little like I was - excited that we were together, but still a little uncertain about what this actually meant for the future. I guessed he'd gone out on a limb with his last statement, so the least I could do was tell him I wanted the same thing.

"E, there is nothing that I'd rather do than spend the day with you all, followed by a hot steamy night with you, exploring your body and enjoying you exploring mine in return. I hope this doesn't freak you out - but I'm in."

He looked at me, his eyebrows raised questioningly. "I'm in for whatever you want. If you want just the vacation, I'm in. If you want more, I'm in." I hesitated for a second, and continued in a low but strong voice.

"If you want forever... I'm in."

###

**EDWARD**

At the sound of Bella's quiet yet confident voice, a small thrill of excitement ran through me. She wanted me forever, I could have this amazing girl forever. I had never been one to believe in love at first sight but since seeing Bella across the patio, she was all I'd always wanted, plus a few things I didn't know I wanted. This beautiful, smart, and sexy beyond all belief girl wanted to be mine, and not just for the vacation - but forever.

"I'm in, too" I whispered back to her in a fierce voice. "I'm in, for as long as you want me, I am all in."

She beamed back at me, her gorgeous face lit up with this news, the fact that all the cards were on the table and we were both all in. I reached my hand down and gave her thigh a gentle squeeze.

"What's got you two grinning like idiots?" Alice interjected.

"Oh, nothing really Alice," Bella replied dreamily, not taking her eyes off me for a second. "Just discussing what we're going to be spending our vacation doing."

We were interrupted by the waiter arriving with our food and I realized how hungry I really was. Between the hangover from last night and the vigorous activities from this morning I had a mean hunger going on. I reluctantly removed my hand from Bella's thigh, picked up my knife and fork and began to eat. As soon as the first bite of food hit my stomach I felt my hangover ease, and my stomach at least was glad we had decided to emerge from the bedroom.

After a few moments of quiet while we all ate, Emmett spoke. "Now guys, what activities are we going to select and lock in from Emmett's fucking fantastic folder of fun?"

As we all burst out laughing again, I realized we were having such a good time we were receiving looks from the other patrons. "What? I have spent about three hours looking over that folder while you two," he motioned to Jasper and I, "sat there and pined for your girls." Bella and Alice instantly shot us both looks that very clearly said they thought we were sweet and were gonna get some later on.

"I have in here," he tapped his head, "an intricate tier scale system based on three different levels of fantasticness. Each activity is awarded points on a combination of its degree of awesomeness as an activity, as well as the amount of potential skin shown by the lovely ladies while partaking in said activity." Rose reached out and playfully swatted the back of his head.

"So, GI Joe, which activity from your fucking fantastic folder of fun has the highest amount of awesomeness points?" Bella asked, her voice dripping with sweetness and just a hint of challenge. God I loved this girl. Wait. What. The. Fuck? Where had that come from?

I knew that I liked Bella a lot, but was I ready to love her? The next look she gave me as we waited for Emmett's response made me think that maybe I did…

"Well, my sweet little B" Emmett said, while shooting me a look. "It's a good thing you asked."

As Bella and Emmett bantered back and forth, I felt a warmth and happiness inside me that I had never felt before. I decided there and then, that I would embrace the feelings I was having and just accept the fact that I loved her. I looked around at the other girls, and noticed just how well they and Bella were absorbed into our group, like they belonged here. In a strange way, it was like we had always known each other.

"Yes, it's a very good thing that you asked, Little B, because the first thing we have planned to do after the today's wasted afternoon is a boat trip to the reef. You may ask why this is first on the list - well it's there, in the prime position, for two very good reasons. Number one: it's going to be great taking that boat to the other side of the reef to snorkel with the multitude of tropical fishes - I'm hanging out to see me some Nemo's!" He grinned a childish grin. "Number two: I'm guessing with your rockin' bodies that you three lovely ladies will be wearing bikinis and therefore showing copious amounts of skin. It's a win-win situation for all!" Without even dropping her fork, Rose reached out and gave Emmett another swat to the back of the head.

Over the rest of brunch, we planned the remainder of the vacation, making sure to incorporate a mix of high adrenaline activities as well as a few lazy days as well.

We headed to the concierge desk and booked a cabana for the afternoon as well as the boat ride to the reef for snorkeling for the next day. Amongst other things, we booked in para-sailing, a walk to the waterfalls complete with a picnic lunch, the twilight dinner cruise as well as a morning of sailing lessons. Emmett was in heaven.

I was just glad that I was going to be spending all this time with Bella. As we rode the elevator up to our floor, I held Bella in my arms and breathed in her scent, trying to commit it to memory. "You'd better relax this afternoon while you can, Little B" I whispered into her ear as the elevator doors slid open. I reluctantly let her go as we walked through the doors.

"You go get your sexy self ready and I'll see you in a bit" she whispered to me, as she stretched up onto her toes and gave me a brief but scorching kiss. I wandered down the hall, a smile on my face, continually looking back over my shoulder to where Bella was still standing at the door of the girls' suite. The goofy grin on my face widened.

Yep, I loved her.

Once we were in our suite the guys both turned, looked at me and waited. "What?" I asked. "Bella told you the whole story this morning - I got nothin' to add."

"I think you've got a lot to add" Jasper drawled, a glint in his eye. I was pretty sure I heard murmurings coming from both of you at brunch about seeing each other once we get home. Am I right?"

"Sure are!" I replied as I walked toward my room to change into my board shorts, closing the door behind me and effectively ending the conversation. I knew how perceptive Jasper was, and that if I spent long enough with him, he would read me like a book. I wasn't quite ready for him to know how I felt yet. I wanted the first person to know I loved Bella, to be Bella.

As I entered the room, I was greeted with the sight of the perfectly made bed, obviously housekeeping had been while we were at brunch. I crossed to the bed and lay down, burying my face into the pillow Bella had slept on last night. I was strangely disappointed to find that they must have changed the sheets and all her sexy scent was gone. I would just have to bring her back to my room tonight to remedy that.

I quickly changed into my board shorts, grabbed my book, slipped on my hat and sunglasses and headed to the lounge to meet the others. Both of them were just coming out of their rooms and we all met in the foyer of the suite.

"Ready to go and drool over our hot girls?" Emmett asked, as we headed out the door and down towards the girls' suite. "I mean, her rack is amazing. I can't wait to see her in a bikini" he continued, as we drew closer to the door. "This afternoon is going to be awesome."

"I thought you said earlier that this was going to be a waste of time." Rose drawled, as she leaned against the open door of their suite, her arms crossed, but a small smile played on her lips.

Emmett swooped up to Rosalie, scooped her into his arms and swung her around a few times before setting her back on her feet with a small kiss to her nose. "Well, my lovely Rose, that was before I saw you in that bikini."

"Come on in" Rose shouted over her shoulder, as Emmett carried her into the lounge.

It was during this interchange that it dawned on me just how much Em liked her. This was working out great, the three of them and the three of us, we fitted together like pieces of a puzzle. Rose motioned for us to take a seat on the couch, as Emmett swung her around again and gave her ass a squeeze.

All coherent thoughts then left my mind as Bella stepped into the room. She was breathtaking and just like in my dream she was wearing a blue bikini.

Fuck me.

###

A/N - Not sure why but it took me ages to write this chapter, I really couldn't get the right flow going so I apologize if it is a bit disjointed!

Reviews are better than an afternoon on the beach with three hot boys in board shorts.

See you next week.

Jul xxx


	21. Chapter 21 Slamming

Disclaimer: Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

Sorry this chapter is a little later than usual. I wish I had a decent excuse but really - I got nothing. I promise to make it up to you be slipping a little lemon in at the end that I was originally going to save for the next chapter (which I am sorry to say will not be until the New Year). So enjoy! Also swapped around the POV's a little more than usual as I thought Bella's perspective for the last scene would be hotter...

The joy of FF is that is it FICTION. For this reason in this chapter there will be no talk of birth control. A condom was used and no babies or STD's were created in the making of this chapter.

Big hugs to I_heart_Fifty who not only sorts out my terrible spelling but looks after my children while I work my arse off. Love ya babe xx

Lastly, I wish you all happy holidays, may your presents be bountiful, your wine flow freely and most importantly your hangover be mild!

###

**BELLA**

As I joined the others in the living room, I observed Emmett swinging Rose around while simultaneously grabbing her ass. The way he was looking at her, it was obvious he had strong feelings for her and the fact that she let him grab her ass made me realize just how much she liked him too.

It was so great that we all got along so well and I was happy that I had two great new friends, as well as a fantastic new boyfriend. I gave a little shiver of delight at 'boyfriend', partly in delight that this amazing man was mine, and part in disgust, 'cause I mean, 'boyfriend?' How old was I, twelve?

In reality Edward was so much more than my boyfriend, but I thought it might be awkward to introduce him as the love of my life or my soulmatesoul mate at this early stage. I had always hated the term 'soulmatesoul mate' - I thought it was kinda cheesy but if I was going to be honest, that's exactly how I saw Edward. It was like he filled in a part of me that I hadn't realised I'd been missing.

I walked further into the living room and stopped dead in my tracks when I noticed Edward relaxing back on the couch, ankle hooked over his knee. He wore only a pair of board shorts that hung low on his hips, showing off the beginning of his sexy snail trail. I know I'd seen him naked for most of the morning less than two hours ago, but the sight of him sitting there was enough for me to do a small fan-girl swoon and drool a little from the corner of my mouth.

I locked eyes with Edward, and noticed he had a strange look on his face. I instantly felt the blush rising up my cheeks and wondered what was wrong. I may have been feeling more confident after this morning's antics, but the insecurity leftover from James would take longer than that to fully recover from. I glanced down at myself, and internally cursed Alice for forcing me into this bikini - if you could really call the tiny scraps of material I had covering my bare essentials a bikini.

I had initially put a more modest one-piece into my case, plus a previously Alice-approved tankini, but she must have taken them both out when I gave her packing control. All I possessed now was a large collection of tiny string bikinis that didn't really leave much to the imagination. It dawned on me then that maybe I hadn't done the strings up tight enough and I was having a wardrobe malfunction. A quick glance down revealed that the girls were secured firmly in place.

I looked back up towards Edward, trying to figure out what was wrong. I meet his searing gaze and let out a small gasp of surprise. I knew that look, I had seen it before. In fact, I had seen that look earlier this morning, right before we had sex. My mouth opened in a silent 'o' and I brought a hand up to cover it.

A sexy grin slid over Edward's face as he blatantly looked me up and down before shooting me a sexy as all hell grin. This time, rather than blushing, I shot him back a look that said 'you're not too bad yourself' before letting my glance once again roam over the hard planes of his chest.

"Well, if you two are finished eye-fucking each other, can we please head down to the beach now?" Rose drawled, pulling me out of my daydream.

"If you don't want to join us, please feel free to stay in the suite" Alice said, "but please, please - keep your sexytime to your bedroom. Remember the rules from home still apply while we're on holiday!"

We had a rule at home that sex was not allowed in any communal areas except the bathroom. We had friends who had walked in on roommates having sex in the kitchen or living room. As much as I loved them, I had no interest in seeing Alice or Rose naked and partaking in sexytimes.

I was saved the embarrassment of answering by Edward. "I think we can keep our hands off each other for a couple of hours at least" he said, while shooting me a wink. I liked how he was so confident - I wasn't so sure tI would be able to keep my hands off him that long. My fingers were already itching to run over his chest.

"Come on girls, get the rest of your things together so we can hit the beach and actually do something" Emmett grumbled. "I wonder if they have a frisbee or a soccer ball at the front desk…" he continued to mumble under his breath.

I headed back into my room to grab my sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, kaftan and book. I knew from experience that I burned very easily and I didn't want to spend the next few days in pain from sunburn because I was too relaxed.

I joined the others in the living room just as Alice and Rose were walking out of their rooms. Alice skipped over to Jasper and jumped on his back before he really knew what was going on. With a laugh they walked out the door towards the lift, Alice yelling for us to hurry up. Emmett grabbed Rose's hand and dragged her out the door, still muttering under his breath about Frisbees, leaving Edward and I alone.

I walked over to where he was standing by the couch and rested my hand lightly on his chest. I stood up on tip toes to give him a gentle kiss.

"Hey, I missed you" I whispered, dropping back down onto flat feet, resting my head on his chest and allowing my arms to snake around his waist.

His arms instantly came around me. "I missed you too, B" he whispered back into my hair. I pulled back a little to look up into his face, but kept my arms around his waist.

"Do we really have to go down?" A little pout formed on my face, almost against my will.

"Not if you don't want to, but since you have that super sexy blue bikini on, it would be a shame not to show it off to everyone" he said, a very serious look on his face. "Especially since it matches so well."

"Matches what?" I asked, thinking that of course it matched - most bikini's top and bottoms do.

"The charming hickey you have on your neck" he said, his face solemn - before breaking into a huge grin as I reached out and slapped his arm, a mock look of outrage on my face.

"Well then, it's good thing your boardshorts are mostly black, as they match the amazing hickey you have on your neck" I giggled. This time it was his turn to have a look of mock horror.

"What I what to know," I said as I gathered all my things up and stuffed them into a Rosalie-approved sparkly tote bag, "is how did you manage to keep eagle-eyes Alice from spotting that hickey on your neck? I mean, it's massive! Maybe I need to work on my placement a little…" I said, making to reach up and latch my lips onto his neck.

"Oh no you don't, back off Vamp Girl" he growled as he ushered me out the door, checking I had my key before shutting the door behind me.

A few minutes and a quick grope in the empty elevator later, we arrived down in the lobby only to be greeted by Emmett holding his hand out to Rose demanding she pay up. Rose grumbled a little about how she thought Edward had more game than that - she didn't think we would join them at all.

"Sorry Rosie" I said sweetly, "but you could probably win your money back if you bet on us a little later" I added under my breath so only she and Edward could hear. His eyes widened and she shot me a 'you go girl' look before joining Emmett.

"Fancy double or nothing, GI Joe?"

Just then, I was pulled around behind one of the huge potted palms in the lobby by Edward. "Bella, baby - you need to stop saying things like that, and doing things like you did in the elevator, or we're never going to make it onto the beach."

"What?" I said - in mock innocence – "I have no idea what you're talking about! Now come on, E – let's go sun ourselves a little before we had back up to your room." I reached up to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek before turning to head out to the beach. I turned before he could follow.

"Just out of interest, you do guys have the 'no sexytime in communal areas' rule? 'Cause if you don't, I think the big rolled arm of your couch looked the perfect height for you to bend me over and fuck me from behind."

I winked at him and flashed my saucy grin.

###

**EDWARD**

I let out a low groan as Bella sashayed away from me. She was going to be the death of me. I had to spend a few additional minutes behind the palm tree getting the raging erection Bella had given with that last comment under control.

I headed out towards the cabana we had reserved for this afternoon, and found the others already there. Emmett had charmed both a frisbee and a soccer ball out of someone and was trying unsuccessfully to convince the others to play with him.

Bella had set herself up under the shade of the cabana on one of the sun loungers, and had twisted her hair up into a loose bun. As I approached, she gave me a wicked smile and held a tube out to me with a sweet smile on her face.

"Would you mind rubbing some sunscreen on my back, E?"

I took a big gulp of air and settled onto the end of her sun lounger, reaching my hand out for the sunscreen. Never before had I thought how sensual rubbing sunscreen on someone else's back was. As my hand rubbed lazily over Bella's shoulders, I could feel the hums of pleasure coming from her. The very same hums that I could feel going straight to my cock.

"Oh E, that feels so good" she moaned, a little too reminiscent of the sounds she was making in the shower this morning as I brought her to orgasm with my fingers and tongue. I instantly tried to clear those images from my mind, but with each circuit my hand made, her moans increased.

I leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "Now listen here B, unless you want me to fling you over my shoulder and carry you back upstairs right now, you need to stop making those fucking sexy sounds."

"It's like you're reading my mind" she whispered back, her voice husky with desire and her eyes dark with need.

I was just about to lean in and kiss her as if my life depended on it when my arm was grabbed roughly and I was unceremoniously dragged away by Emmett.

"You fucking cockblocker!" I growled at him as soon as we were out of earshot.

"Oh, don't be like that, Eddie!" he said to me, playfully. "You can go shag her in half an hour or so, but 'til then let's get her nice and turned on by those rippling abs you and I have spent so long perfecting."

I looked over to Bella and saw that she was just as pissed off as I was, but that she was also in a huddle with the girls and I knew that I wouldn't be getting her away for a little while at least. I reluctantly turned back toward Emmett and hoped that I could burn off a little of this sexual frustration while Bella had her girl time.

###

**BELLA**

As soon as Edward was dragged away by Emmett, I was assaulted by the girls. I had given them a brief rundown about what had happened over the course of the morning while we were getting ready, but I could tell that they were not appeased.

"So Bells," Alice said slyly, "what was going on there?" she motioned to where I Edward and I had been sitting, contemplating if we could head back upstairs.

"Well Al," I said in the same sly voice, "before we were so rudely interrupted, we were planning on heading upstairs for a bit of afternoon delight, even though we only just got here."

"I don't know who you are and what you've done with my best friend, but I don't care 'cause I am definitely liking what I am seeing, girlfriend!" She leaned over to give me a quick hug. "But, before we get into all the details of what happened this morning, I just need to know if this is what you want.

"If by 'this' you mean Edward, then yes, this is 100% definitely what I want."

She looked to Rosalie and they had a secret silent conversation before they both turned to look at me and spoke in harmony. "Well OK then Bells, spill the deets!"

I gave them as many details as I was comfortable giving. As I spoke, I let my eyes wander to what the boys were doing. Emmett had convinced Jasper and Edward to join him with the soccer ball and what I saw before me was three sexy-as-fuck men, glistening with sweat, muscles rippling with exertion.

"Noah on a New England clam chowder, look at those fine specimens of men we have in front of us, and they are ours, all ours!" I said dreamily as I held my hands out for fist bumps.

The girls complied with my fist bumps as they turned their attention to the impromptu game of soccer that was going on in front of us. The both gave one of those breathy little sighs and we all giggled. The other two were hot, but I only had eyes for Edward.

He was still shirtless, and the exertion of all that running around meant he had fine sheen of sweat over his torso and face. I could see small beads of sweat running down his chest and it was all I could do to stop myself from running over and licking those droplets right off him. I never believed that I would find a sweaty man sexy but the vision in front of me was bringing back thoughts of our shower time this morning - I was having a hard time keeping my mouth shut. It was as though it was a movie sequence and they were in slow motion, all that was needed was a wind machine.

As Edward got into a small tussle with Emmett over the ball, I admired the way the muscles moved in his back and his biceps flexed as they elbowed each other out of the way. When Edward managed to get the ball, and ran towards their makeshift goal, he ran his fingers through his unruly hair, shooting me a sexy grin.

Moments later they paused to take a drink of water. Seeing Edward standing there, one hand on his hip, his head tipped back and his Adam's apple bobbing as he drank, I had never been so turned on by something so pedestrian in my life.

Without warning, I stood up, stuffed my things into my tote, placed my fingers in my mouth and let out a shrill whistle.

"Cullen! Get your stuff. Now." I ordered.

He ran over towards me, realizing instantly where I was heading. He scooped his things up, took my bag and threw them in before slinging it over his shoulder and pulling me towards the hotel.

"You go Little B!" Emmett yelled after me, but I was to turned on to be concerned.

"You have to promise not to touch me until we get to the suite" he said, as he dropped my hand and we marched towards the elevator. "I don't think I have enough control around you at the moment to keep it PG, so please B, please."

When I realised he was being serious, I respected his decision as I felt a little the same.

As soon as we reached the door to the boys' suite, Edward reached out and pulled me inside. When the door had shut behind us he spun me around, pushed me against the closed door and kissed me.

His lips came hungrily down on mine and straight away I could feel the desire bubbling up in me. His mouth was devouring mine, nipping my bottom lip and sweeping his tongue into my mouth, making me catch my breath. His lips were magic, usually I felt that I could kiss him for hours, but right now I needed more. Lots more.

He then moved to my neck, alternating between sucking and kissing from my ear, along my jaw and then down to where my shoulder joined my neck. He concentrated there for a minute, like he knew that particular spot was going to be my eventual downfall. I could feel the moans building up from my chest and I hoped there was no one walking down the hall, cause at the volume I was using, I knew they would be able to hear me.

I could feel Edward's hard cock at the apex of my thighs and I shamelessly ground my hips against him, trying to get some much-needed friction. His hands slid up to the ties on my bikini top and with two quick pulls my top was off and my breasts were free. This caused a low growl to be emitted from Edward's mouth as he quickly bent his head to capture one of my nipples in his mouth, sucking it to a hard point while his hand came up to tease the other one.

I gripped his hair with my hands and pulled his lips back up to mine. Seconds later, his hands slid down to untie the ties on the side of my bikini bottoms and they pooled in a heap on the floor. His hands then slid under my bum as he lifted me gently, and I automatically wound my legs around his waist creating great friction against my clit as we rocked our hips against each other.

I reached down between our bodies and tried to undo Edward's boardshorts. He quickly helped me and in seconds we were both naked and ready.

He must have felt the same sense of urgency I did, as he stopped kissing me long enough to pull back. Maintaining eye contact, he slowly pushed his hard cock into me.

It felt like heaven, like it was going on for an eternity. The feeling of his long hard cock sliding into me, stretching me, filling me completely. A low moan escaped from my mouth and seconds later his lips were back on mine.

Each time his hips moved, I could feel him sliding a little deeper. He settled into a rhythm that was guaranteed not to let me last for long. I could feel the familiar pressure building low in my belly and with each stroke of his cock, my orgasm was getting closer. The next stroke brought a subtle change in the position of his pelvis and a different feeling inside. With each upward stroke, his cock was hitting my g-spot dead on.

I couldn't stop the moans and whimpers that were being drawn from my body and this only seemed to spur Edward on more. Without breaking off our kisses, his hand slid down between our bodies and began furious strokes up and down my clit. Moments later I heard an almost feral growl as Edward slammed into me, his cock pounding me against the door as his lips tore away from mine.

I groaned in disappointment, only to gasp as I felt him at my neck kissing and sucking gently before changing tack and sinking his teeth into the sweet spot where my neck joined my shoulder and biting, hard. That was all it took, I felt the heat intensify in my belly, building and growing to a degree that was so intense I almost passed out.

My orgasm slammed into me like a freight train radiating out to my limbs, flowing over me like a tsunami bringing with it a sense of completion and utter satisfaction. Edward set me down gently, making sure my wobbly legs could hold my weight.

We both stood their panting, our bodies coated in sweat, our foreheads resting against each other, trying to get our breaths back. As my heart rate slowly returned to normal Edward cleared his throat.

"Uh, you OK, B?"

"I'm amazing E, absolute amazing" I said, a huge smile on my face.

"I just realized that we haven't said a word to each other since we came into the suite" he said, in an almost embarrassed voice.

"That's OK babe," I said, "sometimes all you need to say can be said without words, and that was so intense I think I know exactly what you would have said if you mouth hadn't been otherwise engaged."

He picked me up and carried me into his bedroom, where he untangled my legs from his and lay me gently on the bed.

"I actually don't think you do know what I was trying to say" he said gently. "Because that was the most animalistic, intense sex I have ever had - but what I want to say is as far from that that you can get."

He cleared his throat nervously as he wrapped us in the sheet and tucked the hair behind my ear that had slipped free. "What I wanted to say was, umm, Isabella Swan? I know I have only known you a matter of days, but I" he cleared his throat again nervously, "I love you."

###

A/N - like you didn't see that coming...

Reviews are better than dirty door sex.

See you next year and Happy Holidays

Jul xxx


	22. Chapter 22 Declaring

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment

I hope you all had a fab festive season. Mine was filled to bursting with family and lots of extra shifts at work. I was hoping to go back to my regular posting schedule of once a week, but more realistically I think it might be more like once a fortnight. I always hated those writers that were almost finished then kinda stopped. I promise to not be one of those people!

As always, love to I_heart_Fifty, who is my number 1 enabler and gave me the Eclipse DVD for Christmas. I gave her Eclipse band-aids and a new OPI nail polish. **[which I love! Thanks!]**

**###**

**BELLA**

What? He loved me? How was this possible? We had known each other about 30 seconds, but deep inside, I knew I felt exactly the same. My heart started to beat like it wanted to jump out of my chest and the words were out of my mouth before I could even think about whether it was a good idea or not.

"I love you too."

"Thank fucking God" he said, letting out his breath in one big whoosh while sitting up a little and running his fingers through his sex-ruffled hair. "That is good news, no, its great news, in fact that is the best news I've ever heard… I'm rambling again, aren't I?" he finished off sheepishly.

I thought it was pretty cute actually, the way his words were running over each other and the hand running through his sex-locks was accentuating each phrase. It was almost like he was nervous or something.

Shit! He was nervous! He was worried that I wasn't going to say it back. I stifled a little giggle - like that would ever happen. I think I'd loved him from the moment I set eyes on him.

"What are you laughing at?" his voice was mock stern, but his eyes twinkling.

"Uh, nothing" I replied, giggling again, thinking it would be a cold day in hell before I ever told him.

"I have ways of making you talk" he said, dipping his head to run kisses down the column of my neck, setting off delicious shivers throughout my body.

"Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you - as long as you keep doing that" I sighed dreamily, as his lips moved to my collarbone and his hand drifted up to cup my breast, his fingers ghosting over my nipple.

"I think I'm done talking for a little while, don't you?" he asked in low voice, as his mouth moved to capture my nipple in his mouth.

"I most definitely agree" I sighed, as his mouth applied firm pressure to my nipple with just a hint of teeth, causing my back to arch off the bed and a small moan to escape my mouth.

"That's more like it" he murmured between the kisses he was trailing down my belly. "Now, lie back and let me show you just how much I love you" he whispered as his head disappeared between my thighs.

I moaned as he proceeded to demonstrate just how much he did love me, twice.

I woke up to light streaming through the open curtains and a comforting weight of an arm slung over my waist and a hand cupping my breast. I could also feel Edward's marvellous morning erection pressing into my lower back. I sighed a sleepy sigh and pushed and wriggled myself back into Edward's hardness.

His arm tightened around my waist and his face nuzzled into my neck. "Good morning gorgeous B" he said sleepily into my hair, as I pressed back into him.

"Good morning yourself" I replied, turning in his arms to kiss him, morning breath be damned. The way he was kissing me back, it seemed he really didn't seem to mind. The kiss had just started to get interesting when there was a tentative knock at the door.

We both groaned before rolling away from each other and making sure we were covered by the sheet. I had a suspicious sense of déjà vu.

"Didn't we do this yesterday morning?" Edward groaned as I pulled the sheet tight across my chest and tucked it securely under my arms.

"You good?" he asked, motioning towards the door.

"As good as I can be after that interruption" I mumbled, running my fingers through my hair trying to restore some sense of order.

"Come in" Edward said, through his chuckle.

Alice popped her head tentatively around the door, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry you two, again" she said in a small voice. "We did paper scissors rock to see who was going to come in and I lost" she had a sad look on her face.

"So anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we have snorkelling on the other side of the reef booked for 9.30, and if you want to eat before we go, you should probably get up now." Before we even had a chance to respond, she had disappeared, shutting the door quietly behind her.

We both sighed and I collapsed back down onto the bed, knowing she was right and that Emmett would never forgive us if we missed this. There was another knock at the door, this time a little more forceful.

"Come on, bitches! Let me in!" Emmett shouted through the door.

"Come in, Emmett" I groaned, while Edward just ran his fingers through his hair, slowly shaking his head.

Emmett threw the door open, ran towards the bed and jumped on, causing me to bounce uncontrollably and erupt in a fit of giggles.

"So, Little B, I'm just here to check you and Ed are not going to bail out on us today," he paused to look and me and wait for me to nod my head. "Oh, and also to drop some stuff off for you."

"We are not going to bail today, in fact, I promise you that come nine thirty, we will be on that boat. In fact, we were just about to have a shower and then some breakfast so we could make the pre-arranged 9.30 kick off" I said sweetly. "Now what stuff did you want to drop off?"

Emmett gave a shrill whistle and Rose and Alice came into the room carrying my case and my makeup bag. "We thought since you had spent the last two nights in here, that we would save you the walk of shame and relocate you" Rose said with a wink.

"Em said it would be more than OK with Eddie" she huffed as she swung my case up onto the small table. "It is OK with you, isn't it?" Rose asked Edward as she spun around to look at him.

"Of course it's OK with me" he said, a big smile plastered on his face. Emmett shot me a knowing wink.

"Also, Jazz and Em are relocating to our suite" Alice added, a slight blush spreading across her cheeks. "We thought you two might like your space, and our suite is a little bigger so there's more than enough room for the four of us" she continued.

Is this all ok? she asked me with her eyes.

I gave her a quick nod of agreement and she gave a clap, accompanied by a little squeal and a bounce on the spot.

"It's all settled then" she said, skipped over and grabbed Em and Rose by the hands, dragging them out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

I looked to Edward, a little unsure of what he was thinking about the whole situation. He had smiled when Rose suggested it but I wasn't 100 percent sure that he was happy about it. Why now did insecure Bella choose to rear her ugly head?

"So," I started nervously, but before I could go any further he had pushed me back onto the bed and attacked me with his mouth. A few minutes of glorious kissing later he pulled back, breathless.

"I guess you are ok with the whole 'moving in' thing then?" I asked, giggling.

"Ok with it? I think it's fan-fucking-tastic!" he exclaimed before capturing my mouth again with his. Things were starting to get a little heated, the kisses more intense and the grinding more insistent. Just as his hand snaked its way under the blanket to slide over my hip I sat up, pushing him off me. It must have been the way he was lying or how close he was to the edge of the bed - cause with that one small move he ended up on the floor.

I flew over to the edge of the bed. "Oh my gosh E, shit! Are you ok?" My concern was evident in my voice.

He looked at me silently for a moment, a look of shock plastered on his face before he broke into loud laughter. "Shit, B! You could have just asked me to stop nicely, rather than pushing me off the bed!"

My hand flew up to my mouth, stifling my giggles and before I could react he knelt up, snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me onto the ground with him.

**###**

**EDWARD**

A squeal escaped from Bella's lips as I pulled her onto the ground with me. I knew it had been an accident for me to end up on the floor but the look of surprise on her face after it happened had been more than worth the slight pain I had in my hip from where I had fallen on it.

Just as I was about to bring her in for another kiss, she placed both her hands on my chest, effectively stopping me.

"E, as much as I would love to spend the day in bed with you. we promised Emmett we would be on that boat at 9.30, and I always keep my promises. So, get your sexy ass over to the phone and order me some breakfast while I get into the shower!" She untangled herself from me and stood up, taking the bed sheet with her - leaving me naked on the floor.

"If you're quick you can join me when you're done" And with that, she strode into the bathroom. the sheet trailing behind her as she threw me a sexy wink over her shoulder.

I gulped. Shit, that woman was going to be the death of me, but what a way to go. I headed over to the phone to order us some room service, keen to get this over with quickly so I could join Bella in the shower.

Unfortunately the room service team seemed to be on the go slow as I was still on the phone when Bella wandered out of the bathroom flushed pink from the heat, wrapped in my robe and a towel around her hair in a turban.

As I hung up the phone, she had her back to me bending over her suitcase as she rifled through, looking for some clothes for the day. I walked up behind her, pulling her hips into mine and nuzzling into her neck as she stood up straight.

"Edward," she whined, "you need to get that sexy ass in the shower or we are going to be late. I promised Emmett that we would be on time and I don't want to look bad. I just want, I mean I really want your friends to like me" she finished quietly.

I felt my mouth drop open in disbelief. She was actually worried about that? Has she not been here these last few days?

"Uh, Bella? Have you not been here these last few days? Emmett and Jasper absolutely love you. When we first met you all, and Alice told us about your fuckwit of an ex, Jasper actually asked if I was only into you for the sex.

I knew then that if I was an asshole to you in any way, they would both take me down." She smiled a little. so I continued. "I mean, Emmett has a nickname for you, and you don't give a cute nickname to a girl you don't like. I think we can safely say that if we ever broke up, they would still want to be friends with you and I would get a fist or two in my face" I chuckled.

"So don't you worry that gorgeous little head about it. They not only like you, but I think they actually like you better than they like me!"

A slow blush kept over her features. "So, uh, what exactly did Alice tell you about James?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"Not a huge amount. Really just that he was a huge asshole and that he hurt you a lot." She blushed again and dropped her head in embarrassment.

I placed my hand under her chin and tilted her head upwards to bring her eyes to meet mine.

"I promise you that I will never do anything to intentionally hurt you. I love you, Bella."

"I love you too, Edward" she responded with a quick but intense kiss. "Now, get your ass in the shower." She dismissed me with a slap to the ass, turning around to rummage back in her case.

"You can have some of the wardrobe and drawer space if you want B," I shouted over my shoulder as I headed to the bathroom. I was glad we had had that conversation; she needed to know that the guys accepted and loved her as much as I did. OK, maybe not quite as much as I did, but you get the picture. It was always easier on a relationship when your girlfriend got along so well with your friends.

I showered quickly, thinking that it had been a mere 24 hours earlier that I had been sharing this shower with Bella and brining her to orgasm. I felt my cock start to stiffen and I made a decision to quickly take care of it, rather than walk around uncomfortable all day. With the images of yesterday's shower plus last night's epic door sex, it didn't take long for me to be pushed to the edge.

I washed quickly, wrapped a towel around my hips and went out to join Bella in the bedroom. I realised she must have been having breakfast as the room was empty. I pulled on a pair of board shorts and a t shirt and strolled out into the dining area.

Bella was seated at the small dining table eating an omelette. She appeared to be dressed in a tiny pink bikini, much the same as yesterday's blue one, and a small skirt - again it didn't leave much to the imagination. I knew that the girls must have chosen Bella's outfit as the skirt was the size of a belt, not that I was complaining. I made a mental note to thank them, repeatedly. On the downside, all the hard work I had done in the shower was wasted as I had to adjust myself in my shorts almost as soon as I laid eyes on her.

"Tick tock, E" Bella sang out, "time is running out, we have 20 minutes to eat and meet the others downstairs. Come and sit down and eat." She pushed out the seat beside her with her foot and motioned with her head for me to sit.

I walked over and sat down as she stood and dished me up an omelette and poured me a cup of black coffee, topping the final inch with hot water. I stared at her in disbelief.

"How do you know how I like my coffee?" I asked while I picked up my fork and began to slowly eat.

She blushed before answering. "I, uh, paid attention to how you had it yesterday" she said quietly. A small grin then spread across her face as she raised her brows at me. I silently lifted the small teapot of peppermint tea and topped up her cup before adding a splash of milk.

"It seems I'm not the only one who was paying attention yesterday" she said as she raised out of her seat and gave me a small kiss. "Thank you for remembering my milk, I know it's weird to put milk in peppermint tea but that's the way I like it, thanks babe."

I felt a flush of pride at remembering something so small and seemingly insignificant, yet obviously important to her. I also felt a strange warmth at the fact that she remembered how I liked my coffee. I knew there was a goofy grin on my face as I sat there eating and I felt an overwhelming sense of contentment. I knew Bella felt it too as she reached her hand over and ran it up and down my arm. That small motion said all that words couldn't.

We finished eating in silence and returned our plates to the room service cart, grinning at each other the whole time. We headed back to the bedroom to pack a few things for the boat trip and stuffed them in Bella's tote.

As I searched for the key card to the room, Bella stood patiently in the foyer of the room. When I finally found it in amongst yesterday's post-door sex carnage, I held my hand out to her and we headed down to the lobby to meet the others with five minutes to spare.

###

**A/N** - Sorry this has taken so long, I appreciate you waiting.

For the record I also like to drink my peppermint tea with a splash of milk and my husband knew that very early on in our relationship.

Things have been a little hectic lately and my 2 ½ year old has decided he doesn't want to sleep in the afternoon anymore, so there goes my writing time! I am currently going against all that I believe in at the moment and am writing this at work… so I apologise now that I am going to do an SM special and 'fade to black' I just can't write lemons at work!

Reviews are better than having Edward know how you like your tea

See you in a week or two

Jul xxx


	23. Chapter 23 Floating

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

**A/N** - I am a little excited cause I have just got an email that Eclipse will be shown on the open air cinema screen in a few weeks. I_heart_Fifty, me and a huge group of others went to watch Twilight last year (or was it the year before….) and it was awesome. Mmmm, alfresco Angryward.

Also the snorkelling trip in this chapter is based on one my Hubby and I took on our honeymoon.

Thanks again for being so patient waiting for the next chapters. My one shot is also finally finished and it currently with IHF so she can pretty it up a little. It's called "It's you" and has a touch or citrus at the end plus a bit of classic Kiwi music. Keep me on author alert so you'll know when it's posted.

As always love to IHF who not only punctuates the shit out of my chapters but also looks after my lovely boys while I go to Pilates on Saturday mornings.

**[Love you too babe. Side note: my twitter handle name has changed to match my blog. I'm now 'TwiKiwi50' instead of 'I_heart_Fifty'. You can call me TK50 for short :)]**

**###**

**BELLA**

We strolled into the lobby hand in hand to meet the others and I saw Alice's eyes widen a little. I wasn't sure if it was at the fact that we were actually here on time or if she could perceive what had shifted between Edward and I. Over breakfast this morning and our tea and coffee ritual something tiny had changed for the better and I was happy, extremely happy. Who knew something as small as how I took my tea was going to be all it took to bring us even closer together.

"Good morning again" Alice trilled as she skipped over and threw her arms around me. "Sorry about this morning," she whispered in my ear "but Emmett really wanted this to be something we all did together."

"It's fine babe, I understand. We wouldn't have missed it for the world" I whispered back. While we had been embracing Edward had wandered over to where the guys were waiting.

I looked over to where Edward was, and caught the end of the boys giving each other that typical 'guy nod' thing as a greeting. I could hear the low murmuring of them talking quietly to each other, and from the volume of their voices I assumed it was most probably about us.

"Hey Edward, we are just going to steal Bella away until we get to the snorkelling spot, OK?" Alice yelled over to Edward. Before she could really give him a chance to answer, she and Rose linked arms with me and dragged me towards the dock where our tour boat was waiting.

"Come on you guys," Rose called over her shoulder as we strolled away arm in arm, "we don't want to be late, it's almost 9.30."

As soon as we were out of earshot of the boys, Rose turned to me. "So, that little display yesterday after the boys' soccer game, that was pretty hot! 'Cullen! Get your stuff, now'" she said in a tone very similar to the one I had used, followed by a giggle. "I'm pretty sure when Charlie taught you to whistle, that was not quite what he had in mind!"

I had the grace to blush a little. "You think that was hot? You should have seen what happened in the suite after that" I said shyly.

"Nice one babe!" Rose said, nudging me in the ribs. "Do you care to elaborate on that any further?" she raised her brows in exclamation.

"Well," I replied. "I'm not one to kiss and tell, but let's just say Edward has very strong arms and I will never be able to look at his suite door in quite the same light again." I finished with a giggle.

"Nicely done Bells!" Alice squealed. "I might have to convince Jazz to give that a go, he is a musician after all, they tend to have strong arms and big hands you know. Did you know that playing guitar involves the same hand dexterity that athletes have? You need speed, flexibility and strength to grip chords spread over the neck of a guitar, involving a number of frets. Great guitar players have larger hands and can span over four or five frets, reaching and stretching to hit chords that others can't. Size doesn't always matter but it helps…" she finished with a wicked glint in her eye.

"Sorry guys, I know this is not the time for an Alice monologue but I got a little carried away." She was quiet for a minute while my admission sank in.

"Samuel on a scone Bella! You broke the 'no sexytime in the communal areas' rule" she said in a mock-chastising tone while holding her hand out to Rose for a fist bump.

"Yes, yes I did." I had a smug and satisfied smile on my face while I remembered what had happened last night. "And it was, without a doubt, the most intense sex I have ever had."

"This conversation is not over" Rose warned as we boarded the boat and took a seat on the bench running along one of the sides of the boat. We launched not long after and on the way to the reef one of the sex on legs staff gave us the short safety brief along, with the bags of pellets to feed the fish.

We arrived at the snorkelling site shortly after, and picked up our conversation while we waited our turn for the crew member to come over and fit us for flippers. As the flipper fitting guy slowly moved his way down the bench towards us I glanced around. "Did you guys notice that the guys who work here don't seem nearly as hot now that we have three hot guys of our very own?" I whispered, so as not be overheard. We all turned our heads towards where the boys were standing by the flipper bin near the back of the boat and gave a little sigh. Fuck he was hot and he was mine, all mine. I sighed again.

"So Bells," Rose said, interrupting my daydreaming. "Tell us more." At that comment, something snapped inside me. I was sick of this being all about me all the time, and it was time I did something about that.

"No Rose," I replied. "You've had your turn. In fact, you've had more than your turn, now it is finally my turn. I know that you and Al both love me, and you're only asking because you're concerned about my welfare, but I am fine. In fact, I am more than fine. I am happy, I am strong and best of all I am in love."

At that last statement both their mouths dropped open, but I held my hand up to stop them. "I am sick of being 'poor little Bella' who needs to be protected, monitored and watched over like a child. I am no longer that girl from a few months ago, and hopefully I will never be that girl again" I finished.

I was met with silence. "Now instead of always talking about me and Edward, let's talk about you and your boys for a change."

Alice was the first to recover. "Well, you already know that I'm going to marry Jasper, so other than that - not much has changed. We do, however, have the most amazingly mind blowing sex, numerous times a night. You spending the last two nights in Edward's suite is not the only reason we wanted to you relocate, if you know what I mean!" she finished with a wink. "I would just like to take a minute to let the record show that - unlike other people I know," she looked at me pointedly, "- I did not break the 'sexytimes only in the bedroom' rule." She raised her eyebrows knowingly at me.

Satisfied the attention had been taken off me for awhile, I turned to look at Rose and raised my brows while I waited for her to talk. "Don't think you're not having your turn" I said to her, giving my very best bitchbrow.

"Oh, OK fine," she said as she dramatically threw her arms up. "I like him, alright? You happy now? He is smart and funny and incredibly sweet, not to mention sinfully sexy. I like him a lot, in fact I like him more than I've liked any other guy I've dated, ever, and I want to see him when we get home. Now is that enough to keep you off my back?"

Alice and I both stared at her, open mouthed. Coming from Rose, this was a big admission. When it came to guys, she usually played her cards close to her chest, even with us. It was sometimes months before we even got her to admit that she really liked a guy.

We were interrupted by the boat staff coming over to fit us for our flippers. I noticed that they were only attentively helping the female members of the trip and the men were all fitting themselves from the bin at the back of the boat like our guys were. We each had a demi-god kneeling in front of us with our feet on their laps.

In any other circumstance this usually would have made me a little weak at the knees but I had barely even registered their presence. That is, until I felt a smooth warm hand slide up my leg in a manner totally unnecessary for flipper fitting. Before I could even think of reacting, the situation had been taken out of my hands.

"I think you are touching something that is mine." I heard a velvet voice murmur. My eyes fluttered up to Edward's face and saw the steely determination in his eyes soften as I met his gaze. "I think I can take it from here" he said in a low voice, as the demi-god quickly moved out of his way. As he stood, Edward grasped his arm and had a quiet conversation that I was unable to hear before the demi-god raised his hands in apology and moved quickly away.

Edward knelt in front of me, his gaze locked on mine, and took my foot onto his knee, running his warm hand up and over my calf in much the way the demi-god had, but this time the effect on me was very different. I got tingles where he touched me and I felt goose bumps rise up on my arms.

"Now, let's get you fitted properly" he said, his gaze never leaving mine as he finished fitting my flippers and tightening the strap around the back of my ankle. "You're all set now, let's go and see some fish." With that he held his hand out and helped me stand. We shuffled awkwardly towards the back of the boat where we were going to sit down and slip into the water. Edward helped me to sit and handed me a snorkel and mask from the box before sitting beside me and donning his own gear.

Wordlessly, he handed me the bag of fish pellets, extended his hand out to me and together we slid off the end of the boat and into the clear blue sea.

**###**

**EDWARD**

Bella and I spent the next hour holding hands while we floated along exploring the sea life and coral with childlike excitement and wonder. Our time was almost up, and while I wanted to keep swimming until the very last minute I could see that Bella was getting cold.

I pulled on her hand to get her attention and her head broke the surface of the water. "You ready to head back in now?" I asked as she pushed her snorkel off her face. "I'm ready whenever you are" she replied, treading water to stay afloat.

Though I was reluctant to head back just yet I could tell she wanted to. "I think I'm done" I said, emptying out the last of my fish pellets to the angelfish that were circling near us. "Let's head back."

"OK" she replied, as she refitted her mask and snorkel before taking my hand and swimming slowly back towards the boat.

I helped her take her gear off and handed it up to Rose, who was waiting by the ladder of the boat. I was about to give her a boost up to the ladder when Emmett loomed over us with his hand out. "Allow me, Little B" and before she could even begin to protest, she had her arms in his. In one quick movement, she was out of the water and up on the deck of the boat.

"Thanks, GI Joe" she said sweetly as I handed my gear up to her and climbed up the ladder, joining the others on the deck. Alice walked over and handed us both towels, plus cold drinks to wash away the salt water taste.

"That was great, Emmett!" Alice said, as we all took a seat for the trip back to the resort. "I'm so glad you suggested all these activities. I can't wait for what we do next."

The others voiced their agreement and things couldn't have been better as Bella snuggled into my side for the ride home.

The next few days passed in a blur of boat rides, long hikes to amazing places and drinking, lots of drinking. The nights were spent with Bella in our room, exploring each other's bodies and talking well into the night. As well as getting to know Bella better, I was getting to know the other girls too, and was beginning to realise how perfect they were for my guys. Rose wouldn't take any of Em's shit plus she had a dirty wicked sense of humour. Alice was a tiny tornado who was perfectly balanced by Jasper's laid back attitude, plus she had a mouth on her like a sailor which contrasted hysterically with her impeccable manners.

Things were going perfectly. No, better than perfectly. All I knew is that I didn't want this to end. Real life was looming around the corner and in just a few short days we would be back home. Jobs, school and everything else would come crashing down onto this perfect thing we had going on.

We had already made our intentions clear with each other, laid our cards on the table. We were both all in and for that I was grateful. I had manned up and told her I loved her and thank fucking god - she had said she loved me too. But I was worried that what we had built for ourselves here wouldn't stand the pressures of the outside world. So, after dinner and drinks that night I decided to talk to her.

After a spot of particularly energetic and satisfying afternoon sex, we showered and got ready to meet the others downstairs for dinner.

The girls were two cocktails away from finishing their list and the plan was to do just that tonight before going to bed early in preparation for tomorrow's early morning sailing lesson.

"Come on, B!" I shouted to her through the open bathroom door as I got dressed in our room. We had taken to showering in separate bathrooms as we were continually getting distracted and being late to meet the others.

"Keep your boxers on, I'm coming!" she shouted back as she walked naked out of the bathroom.

"Bloody hell, B!" I groaned and covered my eyes. "If you keep walking around like that, we are never going to get down there to meet them." She just giggled, shot me a wink and quickly got dressed. As she disappeared back into the bathroom to fix her hair and put on some make up I thought again how lucky I was to have found her.

Fifteen minutes later we were seated at what we had come to call 'our table' on the patio. The same one we had sat at that first amazing night. "So guys," Alice said after we had ordered, "what's the plan for when we get home? We already know that your apartment is about 20 minutes away from our place, and while your place is clean, it is a little small. So, after much thought about this, I decided that we should all hang at our place. How does that suit everyone?"

She was met with a stunned silence from everyone except Jasper, who she must have already clued in on the plan. She continued. "I know Edward and Bella love each other, Rose and Em can't keep their hands of each other, and Jazz and I, well you all know what's going on with us. So it's settled then?"

We all continued to stare at her. "Did I say something wrong?" she asked hesitantly. It took us all a moment longer to recover. Jasper spoke first. "Ah, Alice, honey? I think everyone might want to make their own plans when we get home. We don't all have to hang out together all the time" he finished quietly, while rubbing her arm comfortingly.

"I know that" she replied quietly, "but we have had such a great time this vacation and I just don't want that to end. We all get along so well together, like a family."

Bella reached out and pulled her into a fierce hug. "We are family Al," she said quietly, "let's just wait a little longer before we formally integrate the boys permanently into our own personal world of crazy, OK?"

Alice was still looking a little put out that we were not all jumping to implement her suggestion. I personally didn't have a problem with us all hanging out at their place when we got home, but the stunned silence made me think the others we not so keen. I took a quick glance to the other guys and realised that maybe they weren't as adverse to the suggestion as I initially thought.

I raised my brows to the others in a silent question and found them more than agreeable to the suggestion. I wondered for a second why we had all been stunned into silence if we all wanted this. I decided to put the girls out of their misery and take charge of the situation.

"Alice, I think I speak for Emmett and Jasper when I say that we would love to use your place as our main base. Please consider this a formal invitation to permanently integrate us into your own personal world of crazy." All three girls' heads whipped in my direction.

"I would still like to have some alone time with Bella every now and then, but if hanging out at home is half as much fun as it has been here, we will have a blast."

Alice appeared to get her confidence back, as the next thing out of her mouth was back to her usual energetic self. "I knew it was a great idea!" she trilled, "and if I have anything to do with it, life will be just as much fun at home as it is here."

Bella shifted back into her own seat and turned her head to look at me with a huge smile of gratitude on her face. 'Thank you and I love you' she mouthed to me.

I was one lucky bastard.

**###**

**A/N** - Almost there my lovelies, one more chapter then an epi.

Remember, reviews are better than feeding angelfish while holding Edward's hand.

See you in a week or two

Jul xxx


	24. Chapter 24 Endings and Beginnings

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie owns Twilight and these characters. I just manipulate them for my own – and hopefully your – enjoyment.

OK my lovelies, this is the last chapter. I want to thank you all for sticking with me through this fic, giving me wonderful reviews and pimping me out on various sites. Mwah mwah mwah, love you all!

And as always, love to my fab FicBitch, TwiKiwi50 (previously known as I_heart_Fifty) who has stood beside me throughout this, corrected my million and one spelling mistakes, and added all the punctuation that makes this story make sense.

There will not be an epilogue. This is it, lovelies. Hold on tight, and please review xx

**###**

**BELLA**

I was one lucky bitch. Not only was Edward fuckhot, he was also willing to merge not only himself into our crazy world, but he was going to drag his friends with him. If I didn't know before that I loved this man, this would have definitely been the clincher.

I sank back into my chair, snuggling into Edward's arm that was draped across the back of my chair. He lent down and almost absently dropped a kiss on my head as we listened to Emmett talk through the plan for the sailing lesson tomorrow morning.

The conversation flowed easily through the meal, and I was glad Alice had secured all three of the boys in our future. It felt like we had been friends for a lot longer than we had. The days had flown by - it was as though I didn't have a good memory of this vacation without Edward, Emmett and Jasper in it. In this very short time we had become the tight knit group I had always wanted. The boys had seamlessly blended into our lives like they had always been there.

After dinner we lingered at our table, slowly sipping the second to last cocktail on the list. Edward had taken great pleasure in ordering a round of 'vampires' while gesturing to the faded hickey I had placed on his neck that first morning. 

We shared a laugh at that, and as I sat there sipping the cranberry-flavoured drink I couldn't keep the smile off my face. A quick look around at the girls and they looked equally as happy as I was.

"I guess we should keep the final cocktail for tomorrow night's last dinner, and head back upstairs" Rose said, as we all finished off our drinks. "We have an early start tomorrow."

The sailing lesson started at 8am for two hours, before we were assessed to see if we could handle the trip on our own to a nearby island for a picnic lunch - or if we would have to board the instructor's boat for the trip. Either way, I was just planning to sit back and enjoy the ride. I had already informed Edward that it was either going to be him or the instructor doing all the work as I relaxed and enjoyed the view.

As we headed up to our rooms, Alice and Rose linked arms on either side of me as had become our habit. Each night we had a few minutes of girl-time as we walked to our rooms, with the boys murmuring quietly behind us.

"I hope you girls were OK with me inviting the boys to hang at ours" Alice asked, in a small voice.

"I have no problem with it" Rose quickly answered, and we both turned our heads to look at her. "What?" She sounded defensive. "You already know how I feel about Em, and the other two have grown on me. So, like I said - I have no problem with it."

"Me either" I said. "In fact, I was glad you brought it up. E and I had already had a talk about it, but I was a little worried how the pressure of everyday life was going to affect our relationship. It's all well and good to have a holiday romance, but is it going to work when we head back to the cold and snow."

Rose and Alice were quiet for a moment before Rose spoke. "I hear what you're saying Bella, but Edward is going to need someone to keep him warm when we get home. It might as well be you!" She shot me a wink.

We arrived outside mine and Edward's room and after a quick 'goodnight' and a kiss on the cheek from both girls, they headed down the corridor towards their suite. Moments later the boys caught up with me just as I was sliding the key into the door.

"Night Little B!" Emmett said, as he dipped down to kiss my cheek just like the girls had.

"Sweet dreams" Jasper added, as he briefly paused to kiss my other cheek before they both headed towards their rooms. I stood there, a look of shock on my face.

Edward gave a low chuckle from beside me. "On the walk up here, they decided that since we were being - how exactly did you phrase it? – 'fully integrated into your own personal brand of crazy,' that they should just embrace it.

"Welcome to our world now, B. After that declaration at dinner, as far as those two are concerned you three are now family. And as Rose warned me when we first met, we protect our family."

Still reeling from the slight shock of both the boys' kisses and Edward's statement, he guided me into our suite and quietly shut the door behind me. As I headed towards our room I could feel the tears welling in my eyes.

I had never felt so protected, loved and accepted before in my life. I gave a small sniff which caused Edward to hurry to my side. His hands cupped around my face and tilted it up to meet his gaze.

"B, what's wrong?" he asked, concern clear on his face.

At the sight of his worry, the tears that were previously threatening to spill down my face this time actually did.

"It's nothing, really." I sniffed, frantically wiping the tears away.

"I know it's not nothing" he said quietly, "so please tell me."

"No really, it is nothing" I said in a small voice. "I'm not crying because I'm upset, I 'm crying because with those two small kisses on my cheek and those few short words, Em and Jazz have made me feel more protected, more loved and more accepted that any other instance in my whole life. I just feel so blessed that I have found you all" I finished quietly.

He stood there silently for a second before gathering me in a crushing hug, his lips tilting down to meet mine in a heated kiss. As his lips explored mine his hand ran up and down my back in a soothing way.

He pulled back for a second. "That's where you're wrong" he said fiercely. "'Cause it is us who are blessed to have found you. I'd like to think that we would have met anyway, if not on this vacation then it would have happened at home, I'm sure of it. I feel that everything in my life has been leading up to finding you. You don't know how long I've waited for you" he finished quietly, as his lips came down again to meet mine.

As I opened my mouth to grant his tongue access, his arms slid down my sides to my thighs and gripped firmly as he pulled my legs off the ground to wrap them around his waist - all without breaking the kiss.

He continued kissing me as he walked us to the bedroom, laying me down on the bed, tenderly, gently like I was the most precious thing in the world. At that moment that was exactly how I felt.

I lay silently on the bed as Edward slowly stripped my clothes off, followed by his own before lying back down beside me. We had yet to speak a word, but unlike the raw animalistic against-the-door-fucking, this was slow, intense love making. With each touch and caress, he was telling me he loved me and with each responding stroke and lingering glance, I was telling him I loved him back.

Our hands continued to explore each other. I ghosted my hands over his chest, lightly flicking his nipples, causing him to shiver and emit a small groan. His hands in turn were trailing up and down my stomach, sliding over my hip and floating down to my thigh. He wasn't touching me in an overtly sexual way but the judging by the feeling his touch was evoking in me, he might as well have been.

We continued to kiss, his lips nibbling the corner of my mouth and teasing my bottom lip before working his way down to kiss my neck. His feather-light kisses were moving up and down the column of my neck and along my jaw. I let my hands roam up and down his back, lightly scratching with my nails before burying my hands in his hair and tugging gently, the way I knew he liked it.

His lips moved down to my breasts, kissing and nipping gently before making his way to my nipple and taking it into his mouth. The heat of his mouth in contrast with the coolness of the room made me take a sharp intake of breath, enhanced by his other hand coming up to pluck my other nipple gently.

My hands gently massaged his scalp, alternating between rubbing and scratching softly while guiding his head towards the nipple that he had previously been plucking. As his tongue worked its magic on my other nipple, his free hand slid down and hitched my leg, pulling me closer into him. When I was nestled as close to him as I could get, his hand drew circles on my lower belly before sliding between my legs, right towards where I wanted his touch. Where I needed his touch.

As though he could read my mind, he didn't tease me too much as had been his MO in the past. He just headed straight my clit and took up the circular motion he knew I loved. It was not the frantic pace that we both knew would bring me to orgasm in mere minutes, but more of a sweet slow burn that had me writhing under his expert touch.

As his fingers continued to work my clit, we kissed - softly, slowly and sweetly. The heat was building in my belly and I could feel my orgasm building slowly, but I didn't want to go over alone this time. As if he knew what I wanted, his fingers halted, he slid me underneath him, aligned himself at my entrance and slid home.

That first time his cock slid into me was always amazing - but this time it was not only a physical connection but an emotional one too. We were staring into each other's eyes, our bodies saying what we were both reluctant to say out loud in case we broke the connection.

Our bodies rocked together, my hips lifting slightly to meet his thrusting, his movements causing an amazing friction. Again, I felt myself climb slowly towards my orgasm.

His lips met mine in a scorching kiss that increased the fluttering in my stomach ten-fold. The pace of his hip movements increased, as well as the friction between us. The smallest adjustment of his hips caused the most glorious rubbing on my clit and within moments I was close, very close. Our tongues continued to caress and probe while we both rocked towards the most delicious and tender orgasm I had ever experienced.

As we lay entwined together on the bed sleepy and sated, he spoke the first words since he had carried me into the bedroom. "I love you with all that I am, Bella. You are my life now. Sleep my love."

And with that, I snuggled further into him and drifted off to sleep.

The next day's sailing lesson was amazing. I had already informed Edward that he would be doing all the work while I enjoyed the view. I had also told him that I was water sport challenged and that it was in everyone's best interests if I just stayed out of the way. Edward had obviously decided not to push me on this, and had spent the morning telling me that he was 'tacking and jibing,' whatever that meant. He seemed to enjoy reacquainting himself with all the skills he had told me he had picked up in high school.

It was great, watching his muscles flex while he worked, listening to the velvet timbre of his voice as he explained his actions to me. All the while I lounged on the bench of the small sail boat and eyed Edward hungrily like he was something to eat.

Last night's sex had been amazing. Slow, sensuous, sweet and tender, so different from a lot of the sex we had had previously - but at the same time, so poignant. I think it was a time for both of us to express without words how much we meant to each other, and reassure ourselves that things would be OK after we arrived back home.

Home. We only had one more night before flying out mid-morning tomorrow. We decided after our strenuous morning we would have an afternoon rest, followed by one last dinner together where we would finally finish off the cocktail list, and revisit our favourites. Mmm… in fact, the only way this morning could be better was if I had a cocktail in my hand.

"Hey E," I called in my best sex-kitten voice.

"Yeah babe?" he replied almost absently, while he fiddled with one of the ropes.

"You think that once we ace this skills test thing, there's any chance we could sweet talk one of the bar staff into making me a cocktail to go? Y'know, so I have something sweet to sip while I admire my something sweet?" I finished coquettishly, all the while batting my eyelids.

He gave a chuckle before leaning over and giving me a kiss. "I think if the bar staff are male, and as long as you give them that look, I'm pretty sure you could get whatever you want. That is, as long as all you want is a drink. Remember, you're my girl now…" he finished with a wink.

I blushed. "I am yours, most definitely yours" and then with a wink of my own I tipped my head back and shut my eyes to bask in the sun.

**###**

**EDWARD**

We left the girls on the dock while Em, Jazz and I headed back out in the sail boats to take the basic skills test. Our competitive natures made this into a big game, and thankfully no egos were bruised as we all passed. We were able to sail unchaperoned to the island for lunch.

While the girls were waiting, Bella had managed to procure a selection of cocktails to go - complete with glasses and garnishes. I don't know how she managed it but as I pulled alongside the dock she held the little package up, a huge smile on her face with a look of triumph. It was adorable and sexy, and made me want to skip the sailing lunch and take her back up to our room. But, with the excited look on her face as she jumped into the sail boat, chattering about the selection of cocktails she had flirted out of the bartender I couldn't deny her this.

About 20 minutes later we neared the island, and saw a tent set up on the beach. There was a low table surrounded by large floor pillows, plus four waiters who stood at attention, ready to cater to our every whim. As we slowed in preparation to disembark, three staff waded out into the water to take the sail boats from us. Once I had handed over the control I jumped over the side into the thigh-deep water and held my arms out for Bella. She didn't think twice before practically jumping into my arms with a giggle, being careful to cradle her precious takeaway cocktail box.

I walked towards the shore holding Bella in my arms, feeling like I was carrying the most important cargo in the world. When we got to dry sand, I reluctantly lowered Bella to the ground and took the box from her while she removed her shoes and made herself comfortable on one of the large cushions. Before I could join her one of the waiters discretely pulled me aside.

"Pardon the interruption, Mr Cullen. I just wanted to let you know that if you and the other gentlemen in your party would like to partake in some refreshments" - he motioned to where one of the other waiters was opening a bottle of champagne – "we can arrange alternative transportation back to the resort."

I glanced to where the others were lounging on the cushions waiting for a drink, and decided that a long boozy lunch might be a good way to begin our final afternoon. "That would be great, thanks" I said. "I think we are going to need it."

"Very good sir, we have exclusive use of the island until tomorrow morning. If you require, we can arrange to have dinner delivered. Please let us know your intentions by 4pm so arrangements can be made."

"I'll talk to the others and let you know" I replied.

"Excellent sir" he said as he motioned for me to go ahead of him towards the tent, where the others were well into their drinks.

I headed towards Bella, settling myself behind her and dropping a kiss onto her bare shoulder. She turned to meet my lips at the same time, passing me a glass of champagne.

"Thanks, B" I said, giving her another quick kiss before turning to the others. "Hey guys, we have a few decisions to make." They all turned to look at me. "We have exclusive use of the island 'til tomorrow morning and there are three options. We can have lunch and sail back ourselves; we can have lunch and drinks and have someone else sail us back; or we can have lunch, drinks, dinner, a few more drinks and then have someone sail us back to the resort."

Everyone stayed silent for a minute before looking at each other. "Lunch, drinks, dinner and more drinks" we all said in unison. "I'll drink to that!" Emmett added, holding his glass up for us all to toast.

Lunch was amazing, huge platters which we all shared, leaning over the table eating with our fingers, dipping and dunking into dips and sauces. I was so full I wasn't sure if I was going to need any dinner.

After the food had been cleared away, the waiters departed to get our dinner, leaving a huge icebox filled with assorted drinks. Bella chose this moment to debut her box of cocktails.

As she unpacked the contents of the box, Rose retrieved three beers from the icebox for Emmett, Jasper and me. "Just like the first time we met" she said, as she placed a beer in front of each us.

Along with the shakers filled with cocktail mix, miniature glasses and garnishes, Bella also had a list of instructions telling her how to assemble each drink. I knew the champagne must have been going to her head 'cause she was mouthing the words as she read.

She lined three glasses up in front of her, placed a cherry and chocolate curls in the bottom of each before giving one of the shakers a shake and pouring it evenly into the three glasses with a flourish.

"Ladies, chocolate martinis!" she announced as she pushed two of the glasses towards the other girls. "The first drink we all shared together!"

"Also, the colour of your eyes" I whispered in her ear, giving her earlobe a gentle tug with my teeth.

The conversation flowed easily as it had been all vacation. Again I was glad that we all lived in the same place and that this was not going to be just a holiday fling.

Before long Bella pulled the box out again took three glasses, stood up and headed towards the icebox to fill the glasses with ice before coming back to the table and adding the contents of another shaker.

"Knocking your socks off" she said cheekily as she presented Alice and Rose with their drinks. "The last drink we had on ten cocktail night, and the first night we all slept in our new suites" she said, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Yeah Little B, the night you claim all you did was sleep" Emmett boomed.

"How many times do I have to tell you, GI Joe? We did just sleep that night. It was the morning after that we had sex" Bella used a voice like she was talking to a five year old and all the girls giggled.

"Yeah Little B, keep telling yourself that" he replied as Rose snuggled into his side and he absently twisted her hair around one of his fingers. He had it just as bad as I did and from the way she was responding to him she felt it too.

Jasper had already told me he was going to marry Alice, and was just waiting a reasonable amount of time before he proposed. The thing that was weighing on his mind the most was whether me or Emmett was going to be his best man.

I looked around at my friends and their girls, and seriously considered sending a really expensive gift to the blonde bimbo who was working the front desk the day we arrived and mixed up our bags. That one little fuck up had changed the rest of our vacation and hopefully our lives.

Bella pulled the last three glasses out of the box and consulted her instructions before cutting a lime and placing slices on the sides of the glasses. She added a few cubes of ice to each and squirted in a liquid that didn't look like any of the other ones the girls had consumed over the course of the vacation. It was silver in colour and had an almost luminescent quality.

"I don't remember you drinking this one before" I said as she pushed two of the three glasses towards the girls. "Did you drink this one before we met?" She turned to look at me before speaking.

"Actually, this is a drink that I had the bartender make especially for us."

All three girls took a sip, followed by that orgasmic little 'mmm…' compete with shut eyes that we had come to know so well.

We all looked to them expectedly. "Don't leave us hanging B, what's it called?"

"I think this is my favourite!" Rose spoke quietly.

Alice nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, it's sweet and loving but at the same time has an undertone of sexiness about it."

Bella 'hmmed' in agreement, and they all took another sip.

"What?" Emmett asked, perplexed. "How can a drink even taste like that? Have you three turned into the cocktail equivalent of wine snobs?"

They all giggled and took another drink. "I think this one gets better the more you drink it" Alice whispered in an almost reverent voice.

"That's great babe, but what's it called?" Jasper questioned her.

"You'll have to ask Bella" Alice said slyly.

"Come on, B" I said. "We all know how this game works, you order something, sip it and moan and then we three guys are floored by the name, how it fits so well with the situation. Usually we're then torn between wanting to take you somewhere to ravish you, or scooping you up to protect you."

"Well E, I'll put you out of your misery in a second, but one more sip and moan first, OK girls?"

They all lifted their glasses and drained them before letting out a moan that was very reminiscent of Bella's pre-orgasm noises and I pulled her closer into my chest wrapping my arms tightly around her shoulders.

"It's called a Happily Ever After" she said quietly, tilting her head up to mine for a kiss.

"It's just what I feel like right now."

"Me too B, me too."

**THE END**

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